Steel and Starlight
by ArchitectOfLight117
Summary: Orphaned at seven and taken in by the state, Lissa Caito never really had a clear purpose in her life, besides the requirement that she become a state alchemist when she turns sixteen. But one single night changes all that - and suddenly she has a purpose, an outlet for her existence beyond anger and finding a way out of her situation. And it all started with the boy in the chair.
1. Prologue: The Boy in the Chair

Hello and welcome to this monster of a story! And I do mean monster... I'm estimating over 400k words right now, and some of the chapters are so much longer than I've ever allowed before. It's a BEAST. I've already put a ton of time and effort into this story, my whole heart really, so I hope it goes over well because for all that I love FMA, I'm quite new to the whole thing and have very little familiarity with the fanbase as a whole. I don't even know if OCs are really welcome in this manner, tbqh. So I suppose I'll find out! I do hope you guys enjoy, though, because I'm looking forward to sharing my little character's journey with you!

Now, in the interest of full disclosure. Stop reading here if you just wanna get to the story and don't have an interest in my personal stuff. It's TMI probably, but I feel the need to disclose my own connection before I go into this.

I got into FMA recently, through my wife - and it has become so, so vitally important to me in just a few months. Literally. I'm getting a tattoo of Ed and Al soon, my biggest piece yet. I was immediately taken by the boys' story (in Brotherhood/the manga), and specifically Ed's part. Why? Because I suffered a very similar trauma to the boys. My own father decided to up and abandon me and my mother, in a very permanent way, leaving no options for me to contact him. This was years ago now and even so far removed from it, I still suffer regularly, and I doubt I'll ever fully heal from it. For me, it was extremely cathartic to see Edward REFUSE to forgive his father entirely for what he did. From my perspective, some things are simply unforgivable, and it doesn't matter if they're family or not - if somebody hurts you that way, there's no coming back from it. So watching somebody go through what I went through (minus the supernatural/alchemical trappings) was both painful and somehow relieving. It was, honestly, the first time I'd seen a situation where someone didn't forgive their parent for abandoning them. I'd spent years being told "he's your father, you should try to forgive him!" like it actually helped - and then I saw Edward Elric hear those words, and refuse to listen. Forgiveness was not part of his story, and yet he was still able to move on with his life and get past it, in his own way.

In short, Edward Elric gave me hope that one day I can move past what I suffered, without forgiving the person who hurt me.

So naturally, that whole world is ridiculously important to me now. Even as an adult I feel no shame in saying that. Help comes from all kinds of sources. It just felt prudent to explain all that, because I do feel it affects my portrayals of the main characters - and because, bluntly, I have no room for Hohenheim apologists. Dude left his family. Abandoned two little boys. So...nah.

ANYWAY.

If you've made it this far, congratulations and I love you. Without further ado (and I swear, my later A/Ns won't be like this!), please enjoy Steel and Starlight!

* * *

Sitting in the far corner of the carriage, she watched the rain pour down outside and pretended hard as she could that she was anywhere but here, and with anyone but _him_. She had plenty of handlers from the state, lots of different faces she knew—and all of them state alchemists like him—but most of them at least tried to pretend they remembered she was only a trainee because she _had_ to be, not because she'd chosen it.

"Lissandra. The periodic table, please."

She squinted her eyes and ignored him. She'd made a deal with herself—she would only do what he said if he called her by the name she liked, and if not, she was going to ignore everything Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang said to her.

He sighed and tapped her knee once. "Lissandra, I need you to focus."

"Why are we going all the way out into the middle of nowhere?" she asked, looking away from the rolling hills and meeting his gaze. He could stuff the periodic table up his ass.

Lieutenant Colonel Mustang lifted an eyebrow, bemused. "You know why. We're visiting somebody I have a job offer for."

"Okay, but why am _I_ here?" she pressed him.

He leaned back into his side of the carriage, regarding her almost curiously. _That_ was maybe what she hated most about him—he acted like she was a _curiosity_ , something unique and interesting, but not really a person. She didn't think he always remembered she was more than a trainee alchemist, more than something to be shaped and molded into whatever the state wanted. "I'll tell you if you recite the first ten elements for me."

 _Damn._ He had her there.

Sighing, she dug her fingers into the hem of her dress and pursed her lips tight. If he'd just remember her _name…_

Beside him, his second-in-command Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, a blonde woman she disliked a bit less than the Lieutenant Colonel, quirked a rare smile. "We go through this every time," she observed, shaking her head. "Lieutenant Colonel, I'm sure she'll answer you if you just use her nickname, the one she always corrects everyone to. It'll be much smoother that way."

 _Thank you, Lieutenant Hawkeye._

Lieutenant Colonel Mustang sighed roughly, but nodded anyway. "All right. _Lissa_ , will you please recite the first ten elements for me?"

Lissa hid a faint smile. Finally. "Hydrogen. Helium. Lithium. Beryllium. Boron. Carbon. Nitrogen. Oxygen. Fluorine. Neon."

He nodded once, apparently pleased. "You're here because the people I'm looking for happen to be the same age as you. I thought you could help me talk to them, show them what we do isn't as terrifying as it can seem at times."

She looked up at him in surprise. There weren't many other eleven-year-old alchemists in Amestris—that was why the military had been so interested in her from such a young age.

Lissa swallowed back a bitter comment. She knew Mustang didn't like that sort of thing, when she let her tongue get ahead of her brain and made unhappy comments about her life. And maybe he was right. She could've been stuck in one of the bigger group homes outside Central City, with hundreds of kids and barely enough money to keep the doors open. Instead, her abilities had gotten her a place in the military's institution in Central City, so they could keep an eye on what she could do, train her, and eventually have her take the exam and become a state alchemist. That was her path—her _only_ path—in exchange for the state raising her.

From the day her parents had been killed, Lissa hadn't been given a choice in what she wanted to do. She knew too much to be left on her own, without anyone watching over her growing alchemical abilities, considering it was too easy to scratch a transmutation circle in the dirt and cause problems. So she'd been shipped off to Central and stuck in their facility, and offered a choice. She could accept the state's training and agree to become a state alchemist when she turned sixteen, or she could be locked away to prevent her from causing any trouble.

Who was going to choose _that_ option? Seriously.

Lissa glanced between Hawkeye and Mustang, bewildered by the whole thing. "You mean… There's another alchemist as young as me?"

"Two, actually," Mustang confirmed. "Edward Elric is your age, and his brother Alphonse is one year younger than you. From what I've heard, they're already quite accomplished alchemists. At least, they're good enough to come up on our radar and earn this offer."

"So I'm just here to make you look nicer," Lissa snapped, crossing her arms.

Hawkeye cut off her superior before he could say something unkind, though Lissa knew she'd be in trouble later. "No, Lissa. You're here to help these boys too. They lost their mother a while ago, and their father doesn't seem to be around much—and you know firsthand how hard it can be, getting your abilities so young and not having much guidance with them."

 _Their parents are gone?_ Lissa tugged at her uniform again, the facility's blue and white dress stamped with the symbol of the Amestrian military, feeling out of place and uncomfortable. She wanted to tell these boys to run away… But what good would that do? Then they'd be as lost as she'd been.

The carriage rolled to a stop at the crest of a hill, where a rustic-looking house sat looking gloomier than it should through the rain. There wasn't a single light on inside, no sign of anybody around, just… _empty_. Lissa felt something horrible twist in her stomach, and jerked away from the window, dizzy with a sudden wave of fear.

Mustang pushed the door open and stepped out into the rain, maybe not noticing the same thing Lissa had. "Odd," he mused, looking up at the house. "Seems…empty." He sighed and turned around, just as Hawkeye stepped out of the carriage behind him. "Right. Lissandra, you stay close to me, and be careful. Lieutenant Hawkeye, I want you to find the back door and enter that way, quiet as you can. Understood?"

Lissa grabbed up her black raincoat, stamped with the same symbol as her uniform, and tugged it on as she scrambled out. She didn't like this place, didn't like the way the air around them seemed sulfuric and heavy—but she didn't want to stay out here _alone_ either.

She followed close behind Mustang as he approached the house and tested the knob. It twisted easily, and the door swung open with a creak, opening to a yawning, dark hallway and no trace of a light anywhere. Lissa's heart pounded in her chest and she grabbed onto one of Mustang's coattails, fear smothering her embarrassment at clinging to him like a little baby. "L-Lieutenant Colonel Mustang," she whispered, her voice coming out high and fearful, "something's wrong."

He looked back at her a moment, his expression indecisive—then he dug into his pocket and handed her a single stick of white chalk. "You know what to do if something happens, don't you?" he asked her.

Lissa took the chalk and closed her fingers around it, stunned. Mustang rarely trusted her to do transmutations on her own. At least he was listening to her, though. "I do."

"Good. Then stay close. We need to find the Elrics."

They searched the whole first floor, illuminating everything just by Mustang's single flashlight, and Lissa followed him every step of the way, taking in all the details of this home as they went. She hadn't been in a real home since her parents were alive, and it made her heart ache to see the photos, the special homey touches, everything she'd missed at the facility in Central.

But none of it erased the horrible, acrid feeling she'd noticed as soon as she stepped out of the carriage. What _was_ it? What had happened here?

With the first floor empty, Mustang headed up the stairs and Lissa followed him, keeping pace as he checked through a couple bedrooms—one with two beds and a whole bunch of alchemical textbooks spread around, which she guessed was the boys' room—until finally they came upon a door that was shut tight, at the end of the hallway.

Lissa stood back as Mustang opened it, the terror in her head coalescing and rising until she pressed her back against the far wall and stood there, trembling, staring at the open door like it would eat her alive.

Unaware of her reaction, Mustang didn't hesitate as he stepped inside. "What…what the _hell_?"

She darted forward and into the room, suddenly petrified to be alone—only to skid to a halt in the doorway as the harsh smell of iron assaulted her. In the glow of Mustang's flashlight, Lissa saw blood, _so_ much blood, streaked all over the floor. It was pooled to her right, where she could see what looked like…like _drag_ marks, as though someone had crawled through the blood halfway across the room.

And to her left…

Lissa pressed both hands over her mouth to stifle the scream. She could see a transmutation circle, a type she'd never come across before—and at the center…

"Lissa! Dammit, don't look!"

She did scream then, as Mustang grabbed her up and swung her away from the-

But there was nothing there.

Lissa froze, squirming with her face pressed into Mustang's military jacket, trying to get a better look again. She'd _seen_ something, a horrific, disfigured _mass_ , but in the split second before he'd yanked her away she had realized there was nothing there. Just a pool of blood at the center of that strange transmutation circle.

"Stop, Lissa, it's all right, just don't look," he urged, still holding her in tightly.

She gripped at his lapels and sobbed weakly, confused and afraid. _This_ was what she'd sensed, _this_ was the thing she'd been so afraid of outside… But why hadn't Mustang and Hawkeye felt it? Why had nobody else sensed something was wrong?

"Lieutenant Colonel!" Hawkeye came racing in, gun drawn, her voice sounding tight and anxious. "I couldn't find them anywhere, they aren't out back or…" Her breath caught. "What is this?"

"Take Lissandra outside," Mustang ordered firmly. "I want the Elrics found. _Now_."

—

Lissa sat with her knees curled to her chest, getting mud all over the seat and her uniform, but she didn't care. She was so _confused_. What had happened at the Elrics' house? Lieutenant Colonel Mustang hadn't answered any of her questions—he'd just made Lieutenant Hawkeye take her outside and stuff her in the carriage while he finished up inside. Then he'd come tearing back out of the house, angry and almost shaking, and insisted they were going down the road to the Elrics' friends' house, an automail shop nearby.

But what she'd seen…

She shivered and dug her nails into her forearms. What _was_ that thing? And why hadn't Mustang seen it when she did?

"Lissandra, I want you to stay in the carriage when we get there."

She looked up at Mustang and glared. "No."

He sighed deeply. "Lissa…"

"What happened at that house? Did those—boys do that, Edward and Alphonse? Is that was happened?" she asked, dropping her feet back to the floor.

"I don't know," Mustang admitted. "But I do know this is far beyond you now."

Her heart sank. "What are you going to do to them?"

"If they've done…what I believe they have, then I have no choice but to censure them for their actions." He frowned at her, looking very stern. "Which is why you need to stay outside while I handle this. You've seen enough today, and this won't be easy to do, let alone witness. So _stay outside_. Understand? Otherwise I'll report you to the head of your facility."

Lissa gritted her teeth, but nodded anyway. There was no point in arguing with him, not when he got like this, pretending he was some real authority figure for her.

When the carriage stopped outside the automail shop, Mustang and Hawkeye left her there to wait on her own. Apparently this was a big enough problem to warrant them both going inside—but it was the perfect opportunity for Lissa to disobey. Did they really think she'd just sit there?

Lissa climbed out and closed the carriage door behind her, squinting through the rain at the house. This one looked nicer, warmer, and she didn't feel any of that sulfur she'd sensed outside the Elrics'. It was well-lit inside and seemed lived-in, unlike the other one. This one felt like…metal and oil and parchment, kind of comforting and familiar, in a way. She liked it. That was enough to give her the courage to dart across the dark lawn and up the stairs to peek in the front door.

She was just in time to see Mustang go storming across the room and hear him shout, "We went to your house! We saw the floor! What was that? What did you do?!"

Breathing hard, terrified by the tone of his voice, Lissa pushed the door open just a bit further—and saw Mustang holding a small, golden-blond-haired boy aloft by the collar of his shirt over a wheelchair. He must've lifted the boy right out. She could see from her vantage point, crouching on the porch, that his left leg was missing, bandaged partway up his thigh, and his right arm was the same but gone all the way up to his shoulder, his sleeve hanging uselessly beside him.

Something snapped inside Lissa's heart.

"Stop!" she shrieked, shoving past the door and racing across the room to yank hard on Mustang's coat. "Put him down, stop it!"

He turned to look at her, his expression dark and furious. "I thought I told you to wait in the carriage."

Lissa realized she was crying when her vision blurred, but she was too angry and upset to be embarrassed. "But you're _hurting_ him!" she cried, and pulled harder at his coat. She didn't know _why_ she felt so strongly about it, but she knew this boy needed to be treated kinder than this in the moment. "Let him go, please!"

For a moment, Mustang held her gaze, his will crashing against hers—but then he growled low in his throat and returned the boy to his wheelchair.

Lissa sniffed back her tears and darted to the boy's side, only just now noticing the _enormous_ suit of armor standing…behind him, upright on its own, gloves clenched around the handles of the wheelchair. And it was…trembling?

Then the suit of armor began to _speak_. "We…we're sorry," it whimpered, in the voice of a very young boy. "We didn't mean it… We're sorry, we're so sorry…"

"Wait a minute… Are you…" Mustang recoiled in surprise. "Alphonse Elric?"

Lissa looked up at it, confused, trying to understand how a moving suit of armor could be a ten-year-old boy. But…it _sounded_ like one, like a little kid. The suit of armor trembled and looked away, metal creaking as it did, but nobody denied it. Not a single person actually said this suit of armor _wasn't_ a little boy.

"Yes." An old woman across the room sighed and nodded wearily. "That's Alphonse."

Mustang's mouth pursed into a thin line. "Lissandra, go back outside and wait in the carriage. _Now_."

She held her ground. "No."

"Lissandra-"

Hawkeye stepped away from the wall and caught Mustang's gaze, nodding towards where Lissa stood. "Let her stay, Lieutenant Colonel. Isn't that why you brought her along in the first place? She isn't going to sit out there on her own, you know that."

He glared at Lissa, who returned the look with one of her own—but he finally sighed and nodded, relenting. "Fine. Stay, if that's what you want." Mustang then looked across at the old woman, folding his arms over his chest. "We have a lot to discuss, it seems. I need to know everything that happened."

The woman eyed him, suspicious, but when her eyes strayed to the silver chain visible along the side of his trousers, she seemed to slump down a bit. "All right. We'll tell you everything, then."

Hawkeye stepped through into another room of the house, apparently to look around, while Mustang followed the old woman to the dining room table and sat down across from her, folding his hands atop the table and looking back at the three kids expectantly. "Well?"

With what sounded like a tiny sob, the suit of armor— _Alphonse_ —went to grab the handles of the wheelchair, but he was shaking so bad when he gripped down it made the whole chair tremble too.

"Here," Lissa murmured softly, reaching up to take the handles herself. "Let me help you." She ducked under Alphonse's metal arm and dug her feet into the floorboards, pushing hard at the chair until it began to roll forward, moving at a slow pace. It was almost taller than her, so it was a bit of a struggle, but she persisted and got the boy—Edward, he had to be—across the room, turning the chair to sit facing the edge of the table. Then she hurried over and grabbed the chair from the opposite side, and dragged it back so she could sit beside the boys, on Edward's left. Alphonse stood behind his brother's wheelchair, not shaking so hard now but still feeling… _off_.

As the old woman, who introduced herself as Pinako Rockbell, began to tell what she knew, Lissa could see Edward's shoulders slumping further and further, his head dropping almost to his chest. She looked at him, troubled, unsure how to help. Even as she listened to the story, learning what exactly had happened and what they'd done, she couldn't be afraid or angry.

Mustang didn't seem as angry either, though it was _worse_ knowing, she thought. Hearing how they'd tried to bring their mother back, how in the process Edward had lost two of his limbs and Alphonse his whole body, how the scene they'd come across in that house had been the result… It just made her feel so _sad_ for them. They both seemed almost broken, so desperately miserable and hurt, and Edward didn't say a word through the whole thing. He didn't even look up once, unable to do anything but stare distantly across the room, despondent.

"…Should he choose to accept the position, he'll be required to serve the military in times of national emergency. In return, he'll receive privileges and access to otherwise restricted research materials," Mustang was saying, not speaking _to_ Edward so much as _at_ him. "Given time…he may be able to find a way to get their bodies back. Or more."

Ms. Rockbell's face turned stony. "Right after he came stumbling to my door, half-dead and covered in blood, I went over to their house to see for myself what had happened. What was there…" She broke off and glared up at Mustang. "Whatever that thing was, it wasn't _human_. Alchemy created that abomination, and it nearly killed them! And you want to throw those boys headlong into it? Would you _really_ have them go through that kind of hell again?!"

Mustang sighed deeply, unperturbed. "I'm merely offering one possibility. It could be a path to fixing all this, for both of them. Think it over, I urge you." He stood up from the table and gave Lissa a pointed look. "I'm getting the Lieutenant, and then we're leaving. Be ready." He left the room then, heading down the hallway where Hawkeye had disappeared.

"And how did you get mixed up in all this, young lady?" Ms. Rockbell asked her, frowning over at Lissa.

"Oh, I…" She swallowed hard. "My parents died when I was younger… Because I can do alchemy I ended up at a state institution in Central City, and I go out on some missions and errands with the state alchemists sometimes. When they think I'm ready, I'll stop being a trainee and take the exam too."

The woman didn't seem pleased by that. "Hm. Well, be careful, will you? I don't trust that Mustang character."

Lissa bit her lip and gripped onto her dress underneath the table. She didn't like how Mustang had acted either—but she could see why he wanted Edward to take the exam and become a state alchemist, if he'd been able to do so much already. "There are worse things," she murmured, looking down at her lap, almost ashamed of what she was saying. "Being a state alchemist wouldn't be so bad, compared to some alternatives."

Ms. Rockbell didn't reply—she just got up from the table and went across to the kitchen, busying herself there.

"Um… I'm Lissa Caito," she spoke up, turning to face the brothers hesitantly. "I already know your names. Are you…okay? Er…" She felt her face heating up. "I'm sorry, that's a stupid question, isn't it?"

Edward lifted his head finally, staring at her with eyes of pure gold. She'd never seen a color like that—even dull with sorrow, it was…beautiful. "So you're gonna be a state alchemist?"

"Eventually," she told him softly.

He looked down at his own lap and sighed. "It was a stupid question. But…thanks for asking anyway. And…and thank you for…earlier."

When she'd defended him to Mustang. Lissa had known it, she _knew_ it had been too harsh! She looked at Edward fiercely and grabbed his hand in both of hers, making him lift his gaze to her in surprise. "Don't let him push you around," she told him firmly. "I mean it. Go be a state alchemist if that's what _you_ want, but don't let Mustang bully you into anything, okay? He's used to getting his way but you don't have to do anything if you don't want to."

Footsteps thudded in the hall, and Lissa knew what it meant—the others were returning, which meant she'd be going back to Central City and leaving these boys behind. It made her inexplicably sad, like she wanted to drop everything and stay here to look after them. "I have to go back now," she murmured, pushing her chair back and sliding to her feet.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Alphonse asked her softly.

"I'm always okay," she told him, as confidently as she could, though deep inside she was afraid of what punishment might be handed down once she got back. "What about you guys, though? I mean… I heard what happened, and I just…" Lissa reached back out and grabbed Edward's hand again. "I hope I see you again, that's all."

Edward nodded slowly. "Y-yeah. Us too."

Mustang walked back in then, Hawkeye at his heels. "We're going now, Lissandra. Come along." He strode past her and outside, knowing full-well she'd follow him without lingering—he was her only way back, after all.

"I gotta go," Lissa murmured, releasing Edward's hand and stepping away. She walked all the way to the door without breaking—but then she let out a sob and ran back, flinging her arms around Edward and hugging him tight. "Be safe," she whispered. She was too small to really hug Alphonse, so she settled for his leg, wrapping her arms as far around as she could get them. And only then did she walk away, forcing herself to ignore the soft sound of Edward crying as she closed the door behind her.


	2. Deals and Arrangements

This is the first real chapter of five that I'm posting all at once - I wanted to put a little more out there than just a prologue to get people interested, especially since these first few chapters are so painfully short! I followed the natural breaks but fair warning, some later chapters will be at least 2x this length!

I also realized it's important to note: this is a sort of mash-up of Brotherhood, the original anime, and the manga. Ultimately it links up with Brotherhood in Liore and continues along that pathway, but it's important to note that now in case anyone hasn't gone through all three mediums. I've done my best to write everything so it'll be accessible to everyone, even if they haven't gotten to every bit of it, but please let me know if anything is unclear!

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

 _One Year Later_

—

Lissa sat up from the stretches she'd been doing and checked her calendar for the millionth time that morning. According to Mustang, Edward and Alphonse Elric were arriving in Central that day—and she intended to be there, no matter what he said. Because _apparently_ he didn't want her there, for some stupid reason, no doubt.

In the year since meeting the Elrics, Lissa had thrown herself into her studies. She'd heard Edward and Alphonse intended to take their exams and become state alchemists—and if they passed, they'd be the youngest ever. It was enough to encourage her to work that much harder, to prove herself, because she was about to reach a point where she could ask to be assigned permanently as a state alchemist's trainee. Since that night in Resembool, Mustang had been gunning to take her on as his apprentice, but Lissa was _not_ going to let that happen. She would rather go with almost anyone other than him, especially with the image of him shaking fragile, injured Edward by the collar of his shirt burned into her mind. No. No _way_ was she going to be assigned to Roy Mustang.

That was why she had a plan, after all.

Her bunkmate, fifteen-year-old Annie DeMarco, peered down at her over the edge of her top bunk. "Why are you up so early, Caito? It's not even roll call for another hour."

"I'm not going to roll call," Lissa told her bluntly.

DeMarco raised an eyebrow. "You're skipping? Damn. I didn't know you had the stones for it. Fletcher is going to _kill_ you. You realize that, right? He'll kill you, and then turn your body over for Mustang to burn."

Lissa rolled her eyes as she pushed to her feet, jamming her hands on her hips and scowling at the other young alchemist girl. "I'm not afraid of Roy Mustang. _Or_ Vincent Fletcher, for that matter."

"Your funeral."

Ignoring the comment, Lissa bent and began rifling through their shared dresser, looking for the handful of civilian clothes she'd stashed at the bottom of her sock and underwear drawer—the best hiding place she could think of. It wasn't much, just a pair of dark trousers and a big, loose sweater to wear overtop as a shirt, but it would be enough to get her into the train station unnoticed. There was nothing she could do about her military-issued combat boots, but she stuffed a pageboy's cap over her brown curls and hoped that would be enough.

"Well?" she asked, turning to DeMarco and swinging her arms wide. "How do I look?"

DeMarco squinted at her. "Depends. What are you going for?"

"Inconspicuous civilian. At least, inconspicuous enough to get into the train station without some MP noticing me."

"You'll be fine."

Lissa turned back to their small contraband mirror and checked her hair, winding a couple curls around her finger to bring them to order as much as she could. "If Fletcher asks, I was gone before you woke up. Hopefully that'll be enough to put him off my scent, though I bet Mustang will know where I'm going if he hears."

The redheaded alchemist smirked. "So don't get caught. Good luck, Caito. You're gonna need it."

 _Yeah. More than you know._

Lissa headed out as quietly as she could, sneaking down the hall past Fletcher's office and out the front door, where she knew the cameras were busted. They had been for three years now—it was just for show. It would at least buy her enough time to get away before anybody noticed she was gone, and by then it'd be too late to stop her.

She emerged into a clear, bright morning, and paused at the corner of the street to let the sun warm her face. Lissa didn't like Central that much—she had actually preferred Resembool, even though her memories of that place were tainted. The city felt too crowded, too smoggy, the air heavy and acrid with a tinge of iron she knew now to be blood. Though _why_ she sensed blood here, she had no idea. She'd only realized what it was when she'd returned to Central after visiting Resembool, and had recognized the feeling from the Elrics' house.

It was only a short trolley ride to the train station, but Lissa knew better than to take it. She'd get caught in a heartbeat, some state alchemist would see her and ruin the whole thing. So instead she looped out and around, keeping off the main streets, ducking through alleyways and side streets, more than doubling the time it'd take to reach the station. But she had time. She'd left so early, a couple hours before the train was supposed to arrive, hoping they wouldn't figure out her plan until later.

Until she was already _there_ and it would cause too much of a scene to drag her out. Lissa could scream and scream and make Mustang look like an asshole alchemist trying to kidnap a twelve-year-old girl. She grinned to herself at the thought.

Lissa hurried into the train station just before their train was supposed to arrive, pleased to see nobody was even looking at her twice. So she looked enough like a civilian to pass, at least, which meant her disguise was working. Not that it was much of a disguise, but at least she wasn't wearing the damn military's symbol. That would give her away in seconds.

She paused at the schedule board long enough to find out what platform the train would arrive on, and then headed off into the crowds, for once glad to be shorter than average, just because she was so low down that nobody actually would see her if they looked across the crowd.

Finally, Lissa emerged onto the platform, a bit late—and ducked behind a pillar immediately.

Mustang was there, standing with a handful of other soldiers on a cordoned-off end of the platform where it looked like a few criminals had been apprehended. And there, standing with visible fury on his face, was Edward Elric. She noted he seemed to have all his arms and legs, which meant he'd probably gotten automail. Good. She liked him being back on his feet. Behind him stood Alphonse, uncertain even without an expressive face, while his brother yelled at Mustang, voice carrying even all the way over to Lissa's hiding spot. She couldn't catch everything he said, but she understood the gist of it—Mustang had _lied_ , a year ago, when he told them Edward could take the exam when he wanted. He'd orchestrated an attack on the train just to hold up his offer.

Lissa clenched her teeth as she stepped out from behind the pillar. That was just like him, to offer something he couldn't guarantee and _still_ warp it around in his favor… This was exactly why she wasn't going to be _his_ trainee.

She ducked under the little plastic barrier roping off the area, skirted a couple MPs, and then stepped up beside where Mustang and Hawkeye stood, out of their sight but totally visible to Edward and Alphonse. Then she just waited, hoping desperately they'd recognize her though she'd only met them once, and that had been a whole year ago, during the worst time of their lives…

Alphonse jolted when he saw her. "Lissa?"

"Huh?" Edward looked around in confusion. She knew the moment he'd seen her—because his eyebrows turned down and he began to _scowl_ at her. But _why_? She'd wondered if he would recognize her or not, but she'd never thought he might…be angry with her.

His brother didn't seem to feel the same way, though. Alphonse jogged over, each step clanking on the tiled floor, and caught Lissa in an enormous metal hug. "It's so good to see you!" he told her cheerily, as he set her down and knelt to her level. His glowing red eyes seemed brighter, happier than before, though nothing visibly had changed.

"Don't talk to her," Edward told him sharply.

Lissa turned to stare at him, stunned. Why was he acting like this? What had she done? She still had an image of him in her head, broken and sad, missing two limbs, looking up at her with those golden eyes…

Alphonse looked around too. "I—but why? What's going on?"

"Don't you get it?" he snapped. "She _knew_ , Al. She knew we wouldn't be allowed to take the exam!"

"What?!" Lissa reared back, angry and shocked all at once. "I didn't! I didn't know _anything_!"

Edward rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. You're one of them, aren't you? And you didn't tell us a damn thing. Just—just leave us alone!" He lunged, grabbed Alphonse's arm, and simply dragged him away without another look at her.

Lissa could only stare, stunned, tears brimming in her eyes. He…hadn't even given her a chance.

"I don't believe that's what you expected, coming here. Is it?" Mustang asked quietly, stepping up and resting a hand on her shoulder. "If you had waited like I asked, I could've told you how angry Edward Elric has been since that night. I only told you to wait so you could reintroduce yourself at a better time. Now, though…" He eyed her, looking exasperated. "What exactly did you want from them, Lissandra?"

She bowed her head and wrapped her arms around her own body. "I just…wanted to see them again, that's all."

"And no doubt convince them to take on your assignment once they pass their exams. Is that right?" he asked dryly. "I'm no fool, you know. I'm well aware it's time for you to have a permanent assignment. You were hoping to be assigned to one of the Elric brothers, weren't you?"

Lissa bristled, flinging her hands down at her sides and glaring up at him, suddenly furious. "So what if I was?! It's none of your business! I don't wanna be assigned to _you_!"

He lifted an eyebrow. "I never said that." Sighing, Mustang tugged on her shoulder and led her away, off the platform and under the police tape. "I'm feeling…generous today, so I'll make you a deal. If you can get back into the Elrics' good graces, then I'll allow you to choose your own assignment after they take their exams, whether they pass or fail. I will put together a selection of appropriate candidates, and you can choose whoever you'd like. But if you fail… If you can't even win those two boys over… Then _I'll_ choose your assignment."

"What about if I _do_ get them to like me again?" Lissa pressed, suddenly seeing an opening she knew he hadn't noticed.

Mustang regarded her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" She swallowed hard, tried not to sound so… _eager_. He would never say yes if she got too excited. "Could I…help them? I've been studying for the exam for five years now, I bet I could really help them, especially since they've only got a few months. I'd do it for a friend, and if they're my friends, then… Plus, don't people say that teaching helps you learn?"

He chuckled at her babbling, so Lissa closed her mouth tightly, embarrassed. But Mustang didn't seem upset by the idea, at least. "People do say that, yes. I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to assist them—and their training has been quite different from yours. You might learn a thing or two on the way." He nodded and paused, just at the entrance to the station, before kneeling and resting both hands on her shoulders. "Fine, Lissandra. It's Friday now, so you have the weekend off. If you can befriend the Elrics before your classes resume on Monday morning, I'll have you excused from your regular class schedule until they sit for their exams."

Some part of her _knew_ it was too good to be true—but Lissa was too excited about the prospect of being finished with traditional school and alchemy training that she didn't bother thinking it through too hard. "Okay! It's a deal," she agreed, crossing her arms. "Where are they staying?"

"I believe they're being put up at the estate of the Sewing-Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker. Give it a few hours before you drop by, they'll need time to get settled in." Mustang rose and turned to go, leaving her there at the top of the steps—but then he paused and turned back, looking up at her with a strange look on his face. "Good luck, Lissandra. You'll need it."

 _Why do people keep saying that to me? I'm an alchemist, I can create my own luck._

—

That evening, just before dinnertime, Lissa stepped through the front gates of the Tucker Estate, a huge, sprawling building with gardens all around, practically shaking in her boots. She only had a few things with her—a backpack with her school uniform and practice clothes, plus all the notes she could find from her years of instruction. That, and the box of pastries she'd picked up on her way, spending most of the money she'd hidden away over time. She just hoped it would help.

Lissa walked up the long front path to the door, and stood there almost shaking in her combat boots, terrified. Her whole future hinged on making friends with the Elrics. Not that she knew why she had to do it _again_ , after what had happened in Resembool… Alphonse had seemed fine with her, it was just Edward who turned his nose up.

Edward… He was so different now from that hurt little boy in the chair. Though, Lissa supposed she was pretty different too.

She steeled herself and knocked hard on the door with her free hand. There was no sense waiting around, after all—standing out here in the dark wouldn't get her answers any faster, and it wouldn't do anything to make Edward Elric like her again.

The door swung open, revealing a middle-aged man with glasses, who smiled down at her like she was a pixie scout. "Well, hello there, young lady. Can I help you?"

Lissa bobbed her head. "Hello. Are you Mr. Shou Tucker?" She waited for his nod before she continued. "My name's Lissa Caito, I'm—a friend of Edward and Alphonse's. I stopped by to see them, I…needed to talk to them about something." She fumbled with her pale pink box of pastries before holding it up helpfully, grinning at him. "I brought some sweets for them, too."

 _Though… Alphonse can't have any. I'll make it up to him later._

"Oh! The boys are staying here, yes. They've holed up in the library studying—they're quite dedicated young men, aren't they?" Mr. Tucker stepped aside and held his arm out for her. "Come in, Miss Caito. I'll show you to the library."

The inside of the house was dark, much darker than she'd expected. Lissa noticed plenty of darkened rooms as Mr. Tucker led her through the house, as though he were conserving electricity. But why? Wouldn't a prominent alchemist have plenty of money? Mustang always seemed to… And she'd always heard that state alchemists were paid _really_ well for their time and research, with huge military budgets underneath them. Something didn't add up, but she was too focused on her goal to worry about it in the moment.

"Here," he announced warmly. "This is the door to the library. The boys can show you around, if you need anything. Feel free to stay as long as you'd like, Miss Caito." With a wave, Mr. Tucker headed back off into the dark house, leaving Lissa alone outside the library door.

"Okay," she breathed to herself, shifting her backpack strap higher on her shoulder. "You can do this, Lissa. You _have_ to."

With her face contorted in a sort of terrified grimace, Lissa reached out and grasped the doorknob. She turned it all at once, like ripping off a plaster, shoved it open, and stepped inside all in one motion. It was brighter inside, a mixture of lightbulbs and candlelight, and at the center of the decently-sized library sat Edward and Alphonse, both at a table scattered in books, heads bent as they read intensely.

"Um, hi," she greeted softly. When Edward's head shot up and his eyes narrowed, Lissa lifted her box of pastries like it was a shield.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

Alphonse glanced at him. "Brother…don't…"

Lissa peered around the box, biting the inside of her lip to keep from pouting. She was _twelve_ , she didn't pout anymore. "I just…wanted to talk, that's all. I brought sweets too, if—if you want any. They're all for you."

"We don't wanna hear anything you have to say," Edward snapped, and slammed his book shut angrily.

She gritted her teeth. _Not again. I'm not going to stand here like an idiot this time._ " _No_ , Edward Elric! You're going to listen to me!" Lissa told him harshly. She stalked over and set the pastry box down on their table, for safekeeping—then she crossed to him and pointed her finger right in his face, like she'd seen really big adults do to intimidate each other. "Why would you think I knew _anything_ about what that—that _jerk_ was planning? I was _nice_ to you, I skipped class and risked getting my ass kicked to come see you guys today and you _yelled_ at me! Why—why do you hate me, Edward? What did I do to make you hate me?"

Edward stared up at her with his mouth open, blinking slowly. "W-wait… I don't… You didn't know? But I thought… I mean, you were working with him and…"

Lissa wrinkled her nose. "I do _not_ work with him. Lieutenant Colonel Mustang just likes to drag me around on missions. He didn't even want me at the station today, he specifically told me not to go but I went anyway. Because I…" She swallowed hard and let her arm drop, feeling all the hurt from earlier crash down on her. "I wanted to see you again. Both of you."

"You came out just to see us?" Alphonse asked her softly. "But…you hardly know us."

She shrugged faintly. "So? I can still like you, can't I?"

"But I thought you _had_ to know," Edward pressed her, looking so confused. "You were there when Mustang offered us the chance to take the exam, and you're supposed to take it too, right? How…how did you not know?"

"Because he told me you had a job offer. On the ride to your house from the station in Resembool, he told me that I was there to make being a state alchemist seem less…scary." She twisted her fingers into the sleeve of her sweater and added, "He doesn't tell anybody anything. Especially not me."

Edward's cheeks burned red, his expression shameful. "So you…didn't know? You really came to the station today just to see us?"

"Of course I did, dummy," Lissa muttered, scowling at her feet. "Why else would I go?"

He shifted in his seat and stared down at his lap, his whole face turning bright red. "I dunno… I just thought you were there with Mustang and I thought…you were in on it." He tugged at his braid uncertainly. "I guess it sounds pretty stupid now. Especially after…"

Edward's eyes flicked up at the same time as Lissa's, and as they stared at each other, she knew they were remembering the same moment—a year ago, when she'd gone running into the Rockbells' kitchen to defend him, a boy she'd never even met or seen before, determined to look after him when she didn't know him at all. She still wondered about that, about what exactly had caused her to stand up to Mustang then. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him bully people before. Herself included. And while she stood up for herself, even at the cost of being punished, she'd always hesitated to do it for anyone else before. Why should she when they wouldn't do the same for her?

But seeing Edward like that… Seeing a little boy her own age so sad and hurt and broken from the inside out get hauled up by his collar that way… Lissa had never known rage like that before.

"Resembool," she confirmed softly. "Yeah, after that."

Edward fisted his hands atop the table. "I'm sorry, Lissa. I didn't mean to be an ass today. It's just… This is the only way me and Al can get our bodies back, our real ones. If we don't become state alchemists, then… I don't know what we'll do."

She tapped his shoulder, getting him to look up at her. "Well, you're in luck, then. Mustang did one good thing today—he told me if I could make friends with you two again by Monday, then he'd excuse me from all my classes until you take your exams. So you can call me your new instructor, I guess!"

Alphonse perked right up at that. "You mean you'll help us prepare for the exam?"

"Sure will." Lissa grinned and heaved her backpack onto the table, and began to rummage through it for the notebooks she'd brought.

Edward gave her a skeptical look, though. "You're only twelve, just like me. How can you teach us?"

"Because, dummy, I've been studying for the state alchemy exam for _five years_ , here in Central," Lissa told him, rolling her eyes. "It's the only thing I do. When my parents were killed, the state took me in and offered to teach me in exchange for me becoming a state alchemist and serving as soon as I turn sixteen. I got shipped up here to Central City and put into this sort of academy, it's a facility in the military barracks here. The only thing we do is work on alchemy and study for that exam." She smirked and tossed her notebooks down on the table in front of the boys, watching Edward's eyes widen in shock. "I've got five years of notes for you to look at."

"Woah, this is amazing!" Alphonse breathed, grabbing up her fifth year notebook and flipping through it quickly. "Your notes are so detailed, Lissa. You've got everything in here!"

She sat down beside Edward and crossed her legs under the table, feeling pleased with herself. Mustang didn't know what he was dealing with. She'd already gotten back on good terms with the boys and it was just Friday night. Take that! Now she'd have a few months working with the Elrics—and then she'd get to be placed with a state alchemist and leave Roy Mustang behind for good.

"I also have a specialty," she confided in them, dropping her voice low. Not many people knew she already had a specialty—they took a long time to develop and hone, but she'd been learning since she was four. Eight years of training had given her a big advantage.

Edward grinned proudly. "Me too. Mine's combat metals. What's yours?"

 _Can I really tell him? I guess I don't have a choice now… And I really think I can trust them._ "It's intangible elements."

"Really? Intangibles?" Edward beamed at her across the table. "That's really rare, isn't it?"

She nodded, feeling a bit shy suddenly. Most of the state alchemists knew it from her file—she wasn't actually used to telling anyone on her own. Somehow it was embarrassing this way. "From what I heard, yeah."

He smirked then, his eyes narrowing as he took on a more mischievous expression. "So… Do you think your tutoring involves any sparring, Lissa?"

"Sparring?" She looked at him in surprise. "You wanna spar with _me_? Nobody ever wants to practice with me, not after they find out what I can do." Lissa glanced around, making sure Mr. Tucker wasn't lurking nearby, and then lowered her voice to add, "I like to draw a transmutation circle on myself before I spar with anyone, too. It means I can do alchemy without needing to make one every time."

"Where'd you get that idea?" Alphonse asked curiously.

Lissa twisted her face up unhappily. "Mustang. He's got these special gloves with transmutation circles on them, it's how he does his flame alchemy without drawing a new circle every time. He's a jerk, but he's got some good ideas, I guess. Not that he knows I got the idea from him."

"That's pretty cool," Edward admitted, his eyes bright. "Maybe I'll do it too, make it even when we spar."

 _When. He said when._ "You really wanna do that, Edward? Even though you know I'm better with intangible elements?"

He grinned with all his teeth. "Sure I do. It'll be fun."

Lissa had to smile back, her heart feeling like it might burst in her chest. Having friends was new and wonderful. "Okay. But later, right now you two should start studying. We've got a lot of work to do before you take the exam."

"Ugh. You're gonna be a freaking slave driver, aren't you?" Edward muttered, pressing his hands to his face.

Alphonse patted his shoulder. "Cheer up, brother. At least we've got help."

"The best help there is! Come on, it'll be fun. _Way_ more fun than alchemy school, I promise. Besides," she added, pushing the box of pastries over and flipping the lid up, watching as Edward's eyes went huge, "alchemy school doesn't give you free sweets."

Edward pulled out a cinnamon roll and peeled the outer layer off, then crammed it into his mouth all in one bite. "I think I could get used to this."

Lissa smirked. "When we start sparring, loser has to buy food."

He grinned and shook her hand. "You're on!"


	3. Moving Forward

As a reminder - the first chapter was technically a prologue, making this chapter two. I hope you're enjoying it! Some of this earlier stuff shifts scenes quite a bit, but it's necessary to keep the story moving towards the real heart of it, so please bear with me, lovelies. Enjoy!

* * *

Edward answered the door still in his pyjamas, yawning and looking incredibly sleepy. "Why do you have to get here so early?" he whined, and stepped aside to let Lissa into the house.

"Because they wake us up at five every morning. And I'm bored at the institution." She giggled at his hair, long like hers and hanging down his back unbraided, before handing over the box of pastries she owed for her loss the night before. Lissa didn't mind losing to Ed—she won half the time anyway, and sparring with him always left her breathless and exhilarated, happy right down to her toes no matter who won. He and Alphonse were the only kids her own age she actually _liked_ sparring with. Though…she didn't think she'd ever be good enough to beat Al, especially since Ed couldn't do it either.

"Mornings are stupid," Edward griped, even as he stuffed half a donut in his mouth and began to shuffle down the hall. "Do you even know when I fell asleep last night?"

Lissa smirked and nudged his side with her elbow. "Midnight?"

"Two! Two in the freaking morning!" The rest of the donut disappeared in his mouth and he licked his fingers clean, almost absently, ignoring the chocolate frosting smeared around his lips. "I'm so _tired_ , Liss. Can't we just do this tomorrow?"

She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head, used to him complaining by now. It was like this every Monday morning. "No way, Ed. If I'm not here, then I have to go to school."

"Ew."

"Yeah, exactly."

Footsteps thumped down the hall—and then, in a whirlwind of chaos, Nina Tucker and her dog Alexander came racing down towards the two. "Big Sister Lissa!" Nina giggled, tumbling right into Lissa's arms. "You came back!"

Lissa smiled as she embraced the girl tightly. Usually she didn't do great with kids, but Nina was sweet, and she even liked Alphonse. So Lissa got through the discomfort for her. "'Course I did. What, did you think I was gonna stay away forever?" She ruffled the girl's hair and winked. "Little Big Brother has pastries, if you want one."

Nina gasped. "Big Brother Edward! You have to _share_!"

"I know, I know," Edward laughed, obediently passing over a donut. Lissa thought it was sweet, how nice he was to Nina. They all tried to be—she'd lost her mom a couple years ago when the woman just walked out, and Mr. Tucker worked all the time, so Nina was lonely. All three could understand loneliness.

Feeling a bit bad—she didn't want to be a _slave driver_ , after all—Lissa tapped Ed's arm and asked, "Is Al in the library already? I'll go study with him for a bit if you wanna sleep more."

But Edward just shook his head. "Nah. I'm up now. I'll just sleep in the library if I get too tired."

Lissa twisted her mouth up, but didn't argue it. She'd left him sleeping in the library plenty of times, wrapping him in a blanket and stuffing a pillow under his head so Al didn't have to disturb him for a while. Over the past couple months, she'd gotten to know the Elric brothers really well. They were _way_ better than the other kids at the facility, too, way nicer to her and much better alchemists as well. She could see why they were going to be allowed to take their state exams.

She didn't know why _she_ wasn't allowed, considering how long she'd been studying and especially now that she was training with Ed and Al… But Lissa knew better than to ask.

Nina ran off with Alexander, giggling with a mouthful of pastry, while Lissa followed Ed into the library and shut the door behind her. Al lifted his head as she came in and waved brightly, his red eyes glowing at her in what felt like a friendly way. "Good morning, Lissa," he greeted her in his usual warm tone. "Did you sleep well?"

"Until my five AM bugle call," she laughed. "You'd think after spending almost half my life there I'd get used to it, but it's still stupid."

Ed pulled a face. "I think I'd go crazy."

Lissa settled into her usual chair across the table from the boys and opened the last volume she'd been using to teach them—this one was specifically about the written part of the state exam, complete with practice questions and essay prompts and stuff she usually got at school. The difference was, this book was meant for adults, so it was more complicated. Not difficult, just a higher level. Lissa thought that by the end of this, there was no _way_ she wouldn't be ready to take her exams, even though she'd still have to wait another four years before she tried.

"So, you only have a month before you take your exams," Lissa began, selecting a practice test from the book and holding the page open with her finger. "You both know most of the material, so you should be fine on the written part. But then you gotta worry about the other parts—there's the interview, the physical evaluation, and the practical exam."

Ed raised his right arm, the automail one, and stretched it out with a worried frown. "Will they care about my automail?"

Lissa shook her head quickly. "No, tons of state alchemists have automail. Some people _choose_ to get it, which is kind of stupid if you ask me, but they don't have a problem. You just wanna make sure they know you have a mechanic and that you're looking after it, that's all."

"What happens to me during the physical part?" Al asked, sounding worried. "If they find out I'm just held on by a blood seal…"

"A blood seal in a suit of armor," Lissa pointed out brightly. "You should be fine. You're stronger than me and Ed for sure, it'd take a lot to hurt you. Human bodies are really breakable to begin with, so I'm sure it'll be okay." She wasn't—actually, she had a growing suspicion it was _not_ okay at all, but she didn't want to break Alphonse's heart by admitting that. If the military found out what Al really was, and that Ed had done it himself when he was so young…

She shook it off. It didn't matter yet, they had a whole month to go. She'd find a solution by then.

Ed scowled at the tabletop. "Then there's the interview, right? Do you know what they ask us?"

"I know a bit. One of my handlers talked about it a bit once, he said they want to make sure you have the right reasons for joining up. He told me they'll ask why you wanna be a state alchemist—and they'll ask you about following orders and stuff too. I think even if you don't agree, you wanna say you'll obey because otherwise they might not let you in." That was something even Mustang had told her—that with her history of _insubordination_ , as he called it, she'd need to prove she could follow an order before they let her in. So Lissa just worked on her lying skills.

"Then the practical." Alphonse sounded excited about it. "That one's easy, we just have to show off, right?"

Lissa bobbed her head. "Show off and give them something unique and impressive, too. Usually they only let a couple in at a time, never more than three, I think, but a _bunch_ of people try out every year. So make it big and showy."

Edward grinned with every single one of his teeth. "No problem."

—

"Big Sister Lissa? Do you think big brothers will be finished soon?" Nina asked eagerly, swinging from Lissa's hand.

Lissa smiled down at the girl. "Pretty soon, Nina. Then we'll all go out for ice cream after, okay?" She was glad Nina and Alexander had come along… It made her feel much better after the day she'd had. Just that morning, Lissa had gone storming down to Central HQ, begging to be allowed to take her written test for the state alchemy exam. She had prepared all her arguments, shown evidence of the work she'd done not just in school but with Ed and Al too, done everything she could…

But she'd been turned down.

The boys didn't know—she didn't want to upset them when they were so excited about taking their test, so she'd kept her mouth shut. Edward had noticed she was a bit quiet that morning, but he hadn't pressed, thankfully. And now, a few hours away from the rejection, spending time with Nina had been just what she needed.

Children usually…scared Lissa, somehow. It was stupid, she knew she was pretty young herself, but little kids were just so _innocent_ , and Lissa didn't know how to handle innocence. She'd been learning alchemy since she was younger than Nina, and that didn't allow for much innocence. And then her parents had died…and she'd become a ward of the state, which had basically ruined any little bit of _innocence_ she had left. Lissa was afraid to hurt kids like Nina, who still thought the world was beautiful and perfect and were so _happy_ it seemed like nothing could make them really sad.

She thought back to Edward and Alphonse's house, the blood on the floor, the horrible sadness lingering over them that night, and wondered if they were afraid too.

"Why aren't you taking the test?" Nina asked, pausing in her swinging to look up at Lissa curiously.

Lissa winced. "Uh—it's because I'm not allowed to yet. Big brothers saved a whole train full of people, so they're allowed, but I wasn't there so I can't." She patted Nina's head and found a smile for her. "Don't worry, though. I'll get to take it soon."

And she would. Because she knew this was her first test—to sit this round out while the Elrics took their tests. Maybe this would prove she could _follow orders._

Nina tugged on her hand. "Big sister, I'm _bored_."

Lissa giggled at her—even frustrated, Nina was cute. "Okay, well, why don't we play a game? I remember one I used to play with my parents… It's called I Spy. You look around you, pick an object, and then you say its color. Like this: _I spy with my little eye, something…purple._ " She tapped Nina on the nose and made her smile. "Okay, Nina. Now look for something purple."

"Um…" Nina stuck her tongue between her lips as she thought about it. "Oh! Those flowers!"

"Nope," Lissa told her brightly. "Try again."

"The um… Maybe that lady's coat?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Hmph." The girl crossed her arms over her chest. "This is too hard, big sister."

Lissa laughed and ruffled her hair. "Give it one more try, and then I'll tell you the answer, I promise."

Though Nina pouted about it, she rested a hand on Alexander's furry head and looked around, thinking hard. "What about…the store over there?"

"You got it!" While the little girl cheered and Alexander barked happily, apparently just enjoying the emotions around him, Lissa looked for another object—and couldn't help but grin when she found the perfect one. "Let's do another one," she told Nina, getting the girl's attention. "I spy with my little eye, something…silver."

Nina's eyes went wide. "Silver? Hm…" She spun on the spot, thinking—then let out a delighted cry when she realized. "Oh! It's Big Brother Alphonse!" Nina raced forward, Alexander at her heels, to greet the boys as they came down the steps of the examination building.

Lissa followed, trying to read the boys, but they just seemed exhausted. It felt like cotton wool and mud as she approached them. "How was it?" she asked, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah! How did ya do?" Nina asked excitedly, bouncing on her toes.

Edward groaned and ran a hand across his hair. "Ugh, I didn't even finish, I didn't make it to the last question."

"I got through all of it," Alphonse told her, sounding uncertain. "But I don't know how I did."

"I'm sure you both did great. Anyway, now you get to start worrying about the interview, so I'd focus on that." Lissa smirked at them. "I thought up some questions for a practice interview, too, so we can do that later. But first…I promised Nina ice cream."

Ed perked right up. "Ice cream? Sounds good to me!"

—

Standing aghast in Colonel Mustang's borrowed office, Lissa contemplated all the things she could destroy. She could feel the air currents brushing along her skin, the faintest breeze from the open window… If she wanted to, she could cause all sorts of damage.

But she didn't dare.

"Is it because of his blood seal?" she asked, her voice tight and low.

Mustang nodded. "Yes. You have to understand, Lissandra, Alphonse Elric would never be allowed out of a laboratory again, if the military discovered his secret. And Edward would no longer have a choice—even if he weren't kept under lock and key, interrogated, he would be trapped simply by refusing to leave his brother behind. You must have known this before, you know what the testing entails. Isn't that what you've been studying for?"

Yes, she had known. She'd known all along—but she'd stupidly believed something could be done about it. Lissa would never be that naïve again, she swore it to herself.

"It's not his fault," she forced out, and glared up at Mustang like he was the source of all her anger and frustration. "Al never asked to be like this. Why should he be held back when he never wanted to be-"

But he cut her off. "You were there, Lissandra. You saw their house. Those boys made this bed, and they'll have to lie in it whether they want to or not."

She clenched her fists, trying to cool the energy inside her. As she always did when she left the institution, Lissa had drawn her usual transmutation circle on the inside of both wrists, which meant if she lost control of her temper she could actually _attack_ him. And then she'd never get the chance to be a state alchemist and gain her freedom.

"So you want me to tell them? Is that why you asked me to come here?" she demanded instead. "I don't wanna do your dirty work, Colonel. I don't wanna be the one to break Al's heart."

"I'm not asking you to tell the Elrics, no. But I did want you to hear it first. I know you've been tutoring them for the past few months, and I figured it would be better if you knew before you stopped by to see them later. I already spoke to them first thing this morning, in fact," he explained in that usual cool tone of his, the one that always made her blood boil.

But…he'd already told the boys. Lissa hated that they were sitting on this. "Did you ever really mean to offer it to Alphonse?" she asked him quiet, with a sudden, certain dread. "Or did you always think it would only be Edward?"

Mustang simply looked down at the paperwork on his desk. "You should go see them now," he told her. It was a really painfully obvious dismissal. "Edward still needs your assistance for the next phase of testing."

Lissa went—but only because she wanted to, not because he'd told her. She needed to go clean up the mess Roy Mustang had made.

—

"She's not very happy with you, is she?" Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye observed, stepping into the Colonel's office after nearly being run down by Lissandra Caito, as the girl fled the building.

Mustang shrugged. "She'll be fine. Her focus is on the Elric brothers right now, besides."

Riza gave him a look, the sharp one she knew would grab his attention. "Sir, I have to ask… Why aren't you letting Lissa sit her exams as well? You said it yourself, she has the mind for it, and now that she's been helping the Elrics prepare for three months, surely she'd be ready. She's been waiting most of her life for that chance. It must be difficult, watching someone else her own age be given the opportunity without going through the same training she did."

"At present, her only driving force for becoming a state alchemist is getting out of the facility," he explained, finally looking up from his paperwork and meeting Riza's gaze. "If she goes before the panel and admits that, she'll never become a state alchemist. Lissandra needs a cause. I'm hoping she'll find one, when she's assigned a permanent position."

 _Ah. Of course you are._

"And I assume you yourself are gunning to be her assignment, sir."

He looked at her thoughtfully. "Originally, yes. But she's made it quite clear to me she has no interest in that. My intention is to place her with Major Armstrong. He'd be a good match—and look after her as though she's family, as well."

She frowned at him, more than a little surprised by the admission. "Armstrong, sir? I doubt she'll agree to that. She likes him well enough, but I think we both know who she'd prefer."

" _If_ he does pass, Edward Elric would still be a twelve-year-old boy. And taking into account the quest he's laid out for himself, it would be far too dangerous to send another uncertified child with him as well. No doubt Alphonse will be joining him." Mustang shook his head firmly, and returned to his paperwork like the matter was closed. "Lissandra agreed to let me present her with a series of candidates, and he will _not_ be among them."

Riza bit back a laugh. He was so certain he had the upper hand on this girl, but she'd been watching Lissandra a long time, ever since Mustang took an interest in her, shortly after the girl had been brought to this facility in Central. "With all due respect, sir… I believe you're underestimating Lissa's stubbornness. I'm not certain anyone can tell her what to do."

He pursed his lips unhappily. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of, Lieutenant."

—

Lissa kicked her feet midair, watching closely for any signs that Al was going to get angry. But she'd never really _seen_ him get angry—it just kind of felt like he might snap, after the news he'd gotten that day. She wouldn't blame him for it. "It's okay to be upset," she told him after a moment. It made Ed look up from the book he'd been studying. "I thought I was gonna destroy Mustang's office when he called me in earlier."

"Why'd he drag you in just to tell you, anyway?" Ed wondered aloud. "He could've just told you at the same time."

She wrinkled her nose. "He probably thought it was safer."

Al looked at her, finally tipping his head back up, and asked, "Safer? What do you mean by that, Lissa?"

"Well…when I was little, I used to have a really hard time not using alchemy when I got angry. Since I always drew transmutation circles on myself, I could do it whenever I wanted—and I kind of destroyed some stuff. After that, he's always been really careful how he tells me things that might upset me. Even though I haven't had any issues with control since I was nine." Lissa pulled back her sleeve to reveal one of the transmutation circles inked atop her skin. "See? I had them today. If I wanted to, I could've wrecked his office."

Edward scowled at the tabletop. "Maybe you should've."

"No." Al shook his head quickly. "I don't want you guys doing things like that because of this. It's okay, I'll just go become a state alchemist once we get my body back. Right? It's better than ending up in some lab forever."

"And you're still gonna go with Ed, right? After he becomes a state alchemist?" Lissa confirmed. She'd guessed it, but she wanted to hear it for herself.

Al nodded firmly. "Definitely."

"Then…I have a question for you both." She twisted her fingers into her shirt and found she couldn't actually look at either of the boys—so she just stared down at the notebook in front of her instead. "Part of my deal with Mustang to get to come help you, was that once you're done with your exams, I have to pick a state alchemist as my permanent assignment. Until I turn sixteen and I can take my exam, at least."

"What do you mean, permanent assignment?" Ed asked curiously.

Lissa shrugged, finally looking back up. "It's kind of like an apprenticeship, I guess. Once they think the kids from the facility have learned as much as they can in traditional classes, we'll get assigned to a state alchemist and train with them until we're allowed to sit the exams. The Colonel has been on top of my case file for ages now, so he can decide if I'm ready or not."

Ed pulled a face, though. "But if the Colonel's involved, he probably won't let you pick anybody you want, right?"

"Well…" She couldn't keep herself from smirking. "That morning at the train station, he told me he'd give me a selection of candidates—but I don't really care who he offers me. I… I know who I'd wanna be assigned to."

That caused both boys to look up at her in surprise. "You do?" Al asked her.

Ed nodded eagerly. "Who is it?"

Lissa bit down on her lip anxiously, took a moment to just breathe and yell at herself internally not to let her voice shake. "Well, you, Ed. I'd want to be assigned to you."

"Me?" he repeated, visibly stunned. "Oh man, that's right… Once I pass my exams, then you could be assigned to me, right?" Ed grinned and nodded eagerly, elated. "Do you think Mustang would let you? We'd love to have you come with us, wouldn't we, Al?"

"Definitely!" Al agreed brightly.

She felt her face warming up at their reaction—it was better than she'd ever expected. "A-are you sure? I mean, I don't want to just…push myself on you."

"You're kidding, right? You're our _friend_ , Liss," Ed told her firmly.

Al nodded, his eyes bright—sort of like a smile from him, she thought. "It'll be fun. Besides, you and I can keep training to take our exams as soon as we can. Maybe we can even take them together."

Lissa beamed at him. "That'd be perfect." She untangled her fingers from her shirt and smiled at them both, her heart racing in her chest. This was better than she'd ever dared hope for. "I wanna help you get your bodies back, too—so I'll do whatever I can to help."

"And you're sure Mustang will let this happen?" Edward clarified, frowning just a bit.

She just smirked. "Leave Mustang to me."

—

"In case you haven't heard the good news, Edward Elric passed his exam this morning," Colonel Mustang told her, staring at Lissa over the top of his desk. "He's been appointed a state alchemist, and is being handed down the title of Fullmetal. Which means your obligation to the Elric brothers has been fulfilled, and it's time for you to receive your permanent assignment, where you'll remain until you take your own exams."

Lissa nodded firmly. She'd planted herself in the chair at the front of his desk, ignoring the fact that her feet didn't touch the ground, and was refusing to break eye contact. She had to have conviction, or this wouldn't work. "I know."

"Then you remember our agreement?" he prompted.

She nodded again.

"Good." Mustang reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a series of files, which he opened and set out facing her. "I've put together a few appropriate candidates for you to look through. All of these alchemists would be a good fit for you, and they're all willing to take on an apprentice. My recommendation?" He tapped one file. "Major Alex Louis Armstrong. He's a good man, and he'll work very hard to further your education."

Lissa knew Major Armstrong—though she'd gotten to know him better over the years, she'd always remember him as the giant man who bought her a whole bag of cookies right after her parents passed, on her very first day at the institution. Mustang was right. She wouldn't mind being assigned to Alex at all. But…she had a different plan.

"At the station… Colonel, do you remember what you said?" Lissa asked. "I remember your exact words. You said, 'I will put together a selection of appropriate candidates, and you can choose whoever you'd like.' That's verbatim. I wrote it down that night." She pushed the files back towards him, watching his eyes narrow at the movement. "You never said I had to pick from the candidates you selected—in fact, you _specifically_ said I can pick whoever I'd like."

"Actually, sir," Lieutenant Hawkeye spoke up, from where she'd been standing beside the door, "she's right. You did say that."

Mustang's lips twitched. Was he going to scowl or smile? Lissa didn't know. "Hm. I see. Very well then. If that's what I said, I suppose I'll have to hold myself to it." He folded his hands atop his desk. "Who did you have in mind, then, Lissandra?"

 _I got him._ "Edward Elric, sir," she told him, keeping her voice steady.

He gave her an exasperated look. "Elric has only just been granted his title. He isn't a suitable choice for you, with his inexperience and your similar ages. It would be better if you trained alongside someone with more experience."

But Lissa didn't back down. " _Edward. Elric._ " She met Mustang's eyes with a glare of her own, feeling like a tiny lighthouse standing against a maelstrom. "The Fullmetal Alchemist."

"So you've made up your mind then?" Mustang sighed. Then, startling her into dropping her glare, he _smiled_. "You want to help those boys get their bodies back, don't you? I recognize you're friends, but that's really why you want to go, isn't it? After what you saw that night in Resembool. I know it's affected you."

He was right. Ever since she'd seen that transmutation circle at Ed and Al's house, since she'd seen two boys just like her, without parents and alone, in so much pain… She'd been looking for an outlet to channel all the anger and injustice she felt from that night. Knowing the boys, and knowing they were looking for a way to get their bodies back to normal… It gave her that outlet. So Lissa nodded, and she didn't bother hiding it. "I don't want them to have to live like this, Colonel," she admitted. "And I really think I could help."

"You do realize this would keep you under my command?" he asked her, crossing his arms. "Fullmetal is under my command, and you would be assigning yourself there as well. You'd remain in my jurisdiction."

Lissa nodded. "I know that."

Mustang heaved a great sigh, paused a moment—and then gave a single nod. "Very well. If he's already accepted, then I suppose I'll have to allow it. I only ask that you be careful, and keep your wits about you. Fullmetal has gotten into enough trouble already in his life. I would hate to see you get hurt."

She could only sit there staring in complete shock as Mustang pulled out Ed's file, made a notation, and then signed the paperwork stating she was assigned to him. He'd had the stupid file right there! It was like he'd _known_ she was going to do this… But did that mean he'd been prepared to let her have this assignment anyway? She couldn't understand it. Though, it didn't really matter now that she was being assigned to Ed.

He passed her the sheet of paper that guaranteed her freedom, which she took reverently, releasing the underside of his desk in relief. "Congratulations, Lissa," he told her, sounding genuine. "I hope you enjoy your assignment."

Lissa jolted up and out of her seat, grinning at him brightly. "Thank you, Colonel!" she called, as she turned and sprinted from the room.

Good thing he'd said yes—she'd scrawled a transmutation circle on the edge of his desk. If he hadn't agreed, she was going to deconstruct the entire desk right then and there. Lissa wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty.

She raced through Central HQ, dodging alchemists and MPs alike, until she finally burst through the front doors and down the steps. "Ed!" she yelled, waving the paper at him. He and Al had waited for her outside, sitting on a bench near the entrance. As she approached, they both stood and waved to her.

"Did you get it?" Edward asked, grinning.

Lissa didn't stop—she just flung herself into his arms and hugged him, laughing when he didn't let go and instead spun her in a circle. "I got it!" she told him excitedly, once he'd released her. "I'm your new apprentice, _Fullmetal_."

"So you're coming with us?" Alphonse asked her, bending to pull her into a hug of his own.

She giggled and nodded. "Yup! I just have to get my things from the institution and we can go. What's your first assignment, Ed?"

He shrugged faintly. "I dunno yet. Mustang hasn't given me any orders. But Mr. Tucker said we were all gonna celebrate back at his house, so why don't we just grab your stuff and head on over there? Besides, Al and I never got to see the institution, nobody ever took us by. It'd be interesting to take a look."

Lissa shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "It's…nothing special. You'd be bored."

"But it's silly for you to go by yourself," Al pointed out. "It's okay, we don't mind if it's boring. Besides, we don't have anything else to do right now."

She swallowed hard. "Well…okay, if you're sure."

Even though she didn't want them to see it, Lissa sucked it up and led the boys across the compound, keeping up a steady stream of chatter on the way. She didn't want them to see how anxious she was. The truth was…she was embarrassed of where she'd been living. It didn't look homey, or like anyplace children should be raised. She thought maybe Ed and Al would judge her for growing up in a place like that.

"There it is," Lissa murmured as they approached the enormous concrete building.

"Wait, _this_ place?" Ed stared up at it, craning his neck to see the top. "I've walked past here a dozen times, I had no idea what it was. I thought it was just…like a storage building or something."

 _It kind of is._

Aloud, Lissa didn't acknowledge that. "See, I told you it was boring."

She led them inside, past the checkpoint—Ed flashed his brand-new state alchemist's pocket watch and nobody gave them a second glance—and finally into the facility itself. The interior wasn't much better than the exterior, all concrete and drab colors, locked doors, MPs with automatic weapons… It had always felt kind of like a prison.

"You…lived here?" Alphonse asked her softly, as she turned down the hall towards her dorm.

Lissa nodded absently. "Yeah. I got used to it, I guess." Thankfully her dorm—a loose term, it was more like military barracks—wasn't far, which meant she wouldn't have to be here much longer. She already wanted to run right back out.

Edward touched her shoulder as she opened the door. "And how…how old were you, when you came here?"

"Huh?" She blinked at him in surprise. "Oh, I was seven. I don't think kids that young are supposed to end up here, but they didn't know where else to put a seven-year-old alchemist, I think. And there was nobody else to take me but the state, so they had no choice. Why?"

He looked down the hallway, where they'd come from, and scowled at nothing in particular. "It just seems like a really bleak place to put a kid."

Lissa didn't know what to say to that, so she just pushed past the door and walked inside. It was the middle of the day, so classes were in session—which meant the whole room was deserted. Perfect. She headed down the rows of bunks, skirting between them where necessary, until she reached her own bunk. From there Lissa grabbed her backpack and began stuffing clothes in, leaving behind all her uniforms and military-based clothes in favor of the few civilian and training outfits she had. She didn't want to walk around in the old uniforms anymore.

Al held up one of her discarded dresses. "Ew, they made you wear uniforms?"

"Mmhmm. To every class, and anytime I was out with a state alchemist I had to wear one too." She eyed Edward suspiciously. " _You_ won't make me wear one, right?"

He snorted. "Are you kidding me? No way."

Lissa grinned and tossed the last of her uniforms aside. "Perfect. I probably need to find some new clothes, then."

"Brother can help you transmute them—he made his own cloak," Al piped up brightly.

She finished packing her things up, and then hefted her backpack onto her shoulder and nodded once, firmly. "Okay. I'm ready."

Ed pointed at her half-full bag. "That's it?"

"That's all I have. I didn't get to take anything with me," she explained. "They made me leave all of it behind when I came here, so I don't have anything left from my home or my parents or my life before I came here. So, yeah. This is it."

The boys exchanged a look, one Lissa didn't understand until Ed told her quietly, "When we left Resembool to come here…we burned our house down. We don't have anything left either."

"You burned it down?" she whispered, stunned. She could still see their house in her mind's eye—it had been so pretty, she thought, behind all the horrible things she'd sensed that night. But now it was gone.

Her stomach twisted as she remembered the image of that… _thing_ in the transmutation circle. Lissa still didn't understand how she'd seen something that hadn't still been there.

Alphonse nodded sadly. "Yeah. We wanted to make our decision permanent."

 _Hm… No turning back. I understand that._ With that thought in her head, Lissa gathered up all her discarded uniforms into a pile—then she pressed her hands down on them and focused inward, drawing on the thread of alchemical power in her chest. She sorted through the elements, found the spaces between the atoms…and then pushed the spaces apart, wider and wider. Blue energy crackled around her fingers as the uniforms deconstructed beneath her palms, crumbling into dust.

"There," she announced, rising to her feet and brushing her hands off on her trousers. "Now it's permanent for me too."

Edward smiled at her and kicked his boot through the pile of ash, distributing it a bit. "Come on. Let's get the hell out of this creepy place." He offered Lissa his hand, which she gladly took, conscious that she'd just made a _huge_ change in her life—and now there really was no turning back. She could never come back to this place, to the building she'd been raised in for five years.

Lissa grabbed Alphonse's hand too and didn't look back. She didn't need the institution anymore—she had a new life now.


	4. Sulfur and Rain

Heavy, heavy shit here. This isn't any easier to write than it is to watch - worse still, since this is set along the original anime timeline at this point, they're still just 11/12 here so... I apologize for doing this to the kids, I really do!

* * *

The Tuckers' house was dark when the three arrived, well after sundown. Lissa struggled with the things she was feeling—sulfur and heaviness, but still warm and familiar, like cinnamon or some kind of spice… Yet there was a new feeling too, something she'd never sensed before… It felt like…like rotten fruit, somehow.

She gritted her teeth. _Sensing_ things wasn't very alchemist-like of her. She'd learned early on not to voice weird things like that, so she kept her mouth shut as Ed and Al led the way into the estate.

"Huh," Alphonse mused, standing in the empty foyer. "I wonder where they are?"

Lissa swallowed hard. "I dunno. Maybe Mr. Tucker got caught up getting ready for his assessment, I know he's been really worried about it."

Ed looked over at her curiously. "Assessment?"

"Yeah. Don't you remember, dummy? You have to do them too now, every year. It's the military's way of keeping tabs on state alchemists that are off doing their own research. Remember the other day, when Second Lieutenant Havoc came by? He mentioned Mr. Tucker's assessment was coming up. I don't think he felt ready for it."

"Psh. I know about assessments," Edward grumbled at her. "I just forgot his was happening now, that's all."

"Maybe we should go check his laboratory," Al suggested.

Lissa felt a strike of nausea, and the sulfur she was feeling kicked up a notch. "Are you sure?" she whispered.

Edward turned and gave her an odd look. "You okay, Liss? You look kinda…green."

"I'm fine," she told him immediately, even though it wasn't true at all. "I just…have a weird feeling, that's all." Lissa shook her head. "Let's go find Mr. Tucker." Better to ignore what she was feeling than to admit it—she wasn't sure how the boys would feel at all.

The three made their way through the house, calling for Mr. Tucker, Nina, and Alexander every so often, but nobody answered. Finally, though, they found themselves at the top of the stairs leading down to Mr. Tucker's lab, and Lissa's legs just…completely locked up. She froze up so hard that Al bumped into her when he went to follow Ed down the stairs.

"Uh, Lissa?" He touched her shoulder lightly. "What's going on?"

But she wasn't listening. "Ed… Wait, don't go down there," she whispered, tugging free of Al with a sudden jerk of movement and racing down after Edward.

Lissa reached the bottom just as Ed pushed the doors open, revealing a darkened lab, with Mr. Tucker's failed chimeras unnaturally silent, the very air still around them. The rotten-fruit feeling made Lissa's head spin, and she gripped onto the back of Ed's cloak to keep from tipping right over onto the floor.

"There you are," Ed murmured. "So you are home after all."

Mr. Tucker was crouched before them, half-hiding a sort of silhouetted shape… Like a dog, only…not…

 _What is that?_

"Yes," Mr. Tucker answered softly.

Lissa thought she might pass out with the senses running through her head—stronger than anything she'd ever sensed before like this, like a full orchestra crashing inside her own mind. It was too much. How was she supposed to function with this sense in her head?!

 _The same way you use alchemy. Analysis, deconstruction, and reconstruction. Change it. Make it something else._

With the same pulling sensation that accompanied using alchemy, Lissa felt the sensation inside her head change, shift, and compress. It dulled to a buzzing around her ears, like tiny insects flitting around her—but it was easier, more manageable this way. It made her feel less like she'd pass out, at least, which was all she needed for the moment.

"I did it," Mr. Tucker whispered, turning to look at them. "I finally did it. A chimera that understands human speech. Here, take a look." He beckoned them closer, but only Ed and Al moved forward. Lissa stayed where she was. "Listen to me," Mr. Tucker addressed the chimera. "That person over there, that's Edward."

The chimera lifted its head and peered at Edward with its eerie white eyes, long brown…hair or fur hanging into its face. "That person…Ed…ward…"

Lissa felt her throat go dry. Its voice was…unnatural, like a warped version of a normal human's.

Mr. Tucker patted the chimera's head and grinned. "Yes, that's very good. Well done!" he praised it, like one would do to a pet.

"That's amazing!" Edward breathed, sinking down to his knees beside them. "It can actually talk!"

"Now I don't have to worry about losing my certification," Mr. Tucker laughed, a bit strained.

Lissa finally took a step forward, and another, watching the chimera closely. It was mostly white, four-legged, with those impossibly white eyes…and that stripe of loose, lank brown hair hanging from its head down its spine, all the way over its tail. This one didn't look like the other chimeras she'd seen, the ones Mr. Tucker called _failed_ … It looked…more substantial somehow, which made it even creepier. She felt guilty for thinking that, for calling the poor thing _creepy_ … But there was something unsettling here.

"That person…Ed…ward," the chimera repeated slowly. "That person…Ed…ward…" It tilted its head and looked at him. "Ed…ward… Little Big Brother?"

 _No… No!_

Edward froze where he knelt, his whole body going rigid. "Mr. Tucker… When exactly did you first get your state certification?" he asked softly.

Mr. Tucker rose from his spot on the floor and crossed the room, pushing his glasses up as he went, and turned away from them at the far side of the room. "Let me see… Yes, it would be two years ago."

"And when did your wife leave you?" Ed's voice came out a sort of weak rasp.

"Mh… That was two years ago too," Tucker admitted.

Edward slowly turned around, unable to look away from the floor, his shoulders beginning to tremble. "I just have one more question for you," he began hoarsely. "Where are Nina and Alexander?!"

Lissa heard Al gasp behind her as Ed put it together. She'd known…from the moment the chimera had called Ed _Little Big Brother_ , she'd known, but…she didn't want to believe it. Nina…sweet little Nina and Alexander… Could Mr. Tucker really have done that to them? To his own _daughter_? It made her sick down to her soul to imagine…what that must have felt like…

 _Sulfur…for death and suffering. Heaviness like rain. Sadness, sorrow. And rotten fruit…for something gone horribly wrong._

Tucker sighed roughly. "I _hate_ perceptive brats like you."

In an instant, Edward had swung up and grabbed Tucker, slamming him into the wall and pinning him there by his neck. Lissa staggered away as he blew past her, and caught Al's arm to steady herself.

"Brother!" Al yelped, stunned.

"Oh yeah, I figured it out!" Ed snarled, and pressed Mr. Tucker harder into the wall. "You did it again! Two years ago, it was your _wife_! And this time you used your own daughter and her dog to transmute a talking chimera! You can only do so much with animals, after all! It's much easier when you start with a human! _Isn't that right_?!"

Mr. Tucker lifted his head and _grinned_. "I don't see what you're so upset about. This is how we progress. Human experimentation is a necessary step, you see. I would think a _scientist_ should understand."

"Shut up!" Ed roared. "Do you really think you can get away with this? Messing around with someone's _life_ like that?! Your own _daughter_?!"

Eyes wide, Mr. Tucker stared down at Edward with such intensity it made Lissa's stomach turn. "Someone's life, you say?" He laughed, outright laughed. "You'd know all about that, wouldn't you? Look at you… _Fullmetal Alchemist_ … Look at your leg, your arm, your brother! Aren't those things also the result of messing around with somebody's life?"

Lissa recalled that night—when she'd first met Edward, seen him bandaged and missing half his limbs, seen the _pain_ in his eyes… The way Alphonse trembled so hard he couldn't push his brother's wheelchair… _No._ It wasn't the same. Not in the slightest.

" _SHUT UP!_ "

She jolted in shock as Edward reared back his right arm, his _automail_ arm, and slammed his fist so hard into Mr. Tucker's face that he knocked his glasses off. "Ed, no!" she cried.

But Mr. Tucker didn't let up. He just _laughed_. "We are the same!" he insisted, peeling his face off the wall. "We're the same, Edward. You're just like me!"

"We're not!" Edward yelled, trembling all over.

"Oh, but yes we are!" Mr. Tucker continued. "The opportunity was right in front of us, and we took it! We _had_ to, even though we knew it was against the rules."

Edward took a step back from him—only to lose control again and drive his fist back into Mr. Tucker's face, shouting, " _No!_ Not me!" He surrendered to his anguish and began to beat Mr. Tucker over and over, choking out words between attacks. "Alchemists don't— _do_ that! I'm not… _I'm not!_ "

Al found his ability to move before Lissa did, lunging forward and catching Ed's arm before he could do any further damage. "Brother! If you keep this up, he'll die."

Beside Lissa, the chimera moved, padded forward, and nudged at Edward's arm. He turned to her in shock, staring down at Nina's chimera in horror and sorrow. "Edward…no," the chimera begged. "Daddy, do you…hurt… Daddy…"

Edward released Mr. Tucker and stepped back as Lissa moved forward, digging her fingers into his jacket and pulling him into her. He was shivering head to toe, unable to tear his eyes from Nina as she stared at her father's battered form, still slumped against the wall. Lissa swallowed hard and looked up at Al. "Can you…take her into the hall, Alphonse?" she whispered. "She doesn't need to see this."

Al nodded and put his hand on Nina's head, guiding her out of the room and into the hall, not going far. But it was far enough.

She was still a little girl, inside there… Lissa knew it. Nina was still there. And that poor little girl didn't deserve to see her father like this.

"Ed…" Lissa tugged at his sleeve until he turned away from Mr. Tucker. Somehow he'd injured himself when he'd attacked—there was blood trickling down his face from a cut just underneath his eye. She didn't know how he'd gotten it. "You're bleeding… Here…" Lissa pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and carefully swept it across his cheek, wiping away the blood. He stood immobile through it, still shivering, his automail hand clenched on the hem of her coat as though he were afraid she'd move away.

There was more blood on the other side of his face—but when she wiped it away, there wasn't a wound. Lissa watched her own hands start to tremble at the thought.

"Liss…"

"I made it just in time," Mr. Tucker rasped from behind them. "I get to remain a state alchemist. I _passed_ , I really did it."

Lissa turned to see him holding his state alchemist's pocket watch in both hands, staring down at it through swollen eyes like it was the key to his salvation. Revulsion flooded her. He didn't even _care_ about Nina and Alexander, he just cared about his damned lifestyle! About _money_. How could he not think about his daughter?! His own family?!

She didn't try and restrain Edward when he stalked over and kicked Tucker's pocket watch right out of his hands. It clattered to the ground across the room, and Tucker shoved to his knees, crawling after it.

"Like hell you're staying a state alchemist!" Ed snarled. "Like _hell_!"

From outside in the hall, Nina's voice, warped and twisted, reached them. "Can we…play now?" she asked sadly.

Edward let out a scream of anguish and clutched at his head, sinking to his knees and just folding in on himself. Lissa dropped next to him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face in against his jacket and closing her eyes. She didn't know what to do. Alchemy couldn't separate Nina and Alexander again. It couldn't bring Nina's mom back… It couldn't turn Mr. Tucker into a good father… She felt so _useless_ , helpless against all of this.

"W-we need to call someone," she whispered finally, rising to her feet unsteadily. "We can't do this on our own."

He didn't stand. "We can't do _anything_."

Lissa couldn't leave him down there with Mr. Tucker. She wasn't sure what he might do. So she wrapped both hands around his arm and pulled, tugged at him until he finally stood up and met her gaze. She'd never seen his golden eyes so dull. "Ed…come with me," she begged him. " _Please._ I don't want to do this by myself."

Something different came over Edward's face. He softened just a bit, enough to nod his agreement. "Okay," he whispered. "Okay, Liss." With one last disdainful look at Mr. Tucker, slumped on the floor clutching his broken pocket watch, the two left the laboratory behind.

It didn't take long—once Edward called Colonel Mustang, it was mere minutes before the estate was flooded with MPs and soldiers, taking control of the situation. Mustang asked Lissa, Ed, and Al to wait upstairs, but being in that house was unbearable—so they stepped outside, into a sudden downpour of rain, and sat on the big stone steps leading up to the house. Lissa sat with her head hanging, watching rain drip off the ends of her hair and onto the steps. Was this how it was always going to be? This…awful, this heartbreaking? Was _this_ life as a state alchemist?

She looked through her wet hair at Edward, sitting next to her with his head in his hands. Maybe this was why the institution made kids wait until they were older to take their exams. They were only _twelve_. Lissa had never felt more like a child than she did then, sitting with another twelve-year-old and an eleven-year-old, in the rain, without any power to make things _right_ again.

Lissa heard Mustang coming out of the house and didn't bother to lift her head, just listening with nausea roiling in her stomach as he spoke.

"A state alchemist must be willing to act, able to take another's life when ordered to without question. In some ways, Mr. Tucker's actions and our own may not be so far apart when it comes to interfering with other people's lives. We choose our own path, knowing full-well what we're doing." He paused on his way down the stairs, stopping a few steps above the three. "That's just the way it is. Right, Fullmetal?"

She glanced sideways at Ed again, but he didn't so much as lift his head to acknowledge that Mustang had spoken.

The Colonel sighed at him and continued walking down the stairs, Lieutenant Hawkeye right behind him. "You will more than likely come across cases like this again in the future, and you may have to get your own hands dirty as well. Are you going to shut down like this every time?"

"We may be called dogs of the military," Edward began softly, wrapping his arms around himself tighter, "and we may even be cursed as devils… But it doesn't matter. Al and I are still going to get our bodies back. We know the truth. We know we're not devils." His voice began to tremble. "We know we're not gods. We're _human_." He shoved to his feet, head bowed, and clutched at the sides of his own cloak in anguish. "We're—we're just _children_. We can't even do anything to save one innocent little girl! So what good are we then?!"

Without another word, Mustang and Hawkeye walked away.

"Brother…" Al looked up at him finally, the first time he'd moved since they'd sat down there. "You'll get sick if you stay out here. Both of you will."

Ed pulled his gloves across his face, like he was trying to wipe away the rain, but it was useless to try. He was soaked through. "I guess," he mumbled. "But… I don't know where to stay tonight. I have no idea where to go."

Lissa stood up beside him and pushed her wet hair from her face. "There's some military dorms near—the institution," she told him softly. "We can stay there."

"Oh. Right." Ed looked at her, squinting against the rain, seeming just…lost. "I forgot. Sorry."

She didn't know what to say—there _wasn't_ anything to say to make this better. So Lissa just took Ed's hand in hers, slipped her fingers between his, and pulled him down the stairs. All she could think of was getting warm and sleeping, forgetting just for a few hours that this was _real_ … Because while the boys might have made a choice here… She hadn't. She'd never been given a choice at all.

 _Is this really what my life's going to be? Until I pay back the debt… It'll be nine years of debt I owe the state… I'll never make it up to them… They'll never let me go…_

—

"I don't want you to do this. Not because of me." Lissa crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't _care_ what they do to me—you can't do this, Edward." She was so, _so_ blindingly angry—she'd wiped off the transmutation circles on her wrists because she was terrified she'd destroy the hallway. But that morning… They'd awoken to discover that Nina and Mr. Tucker had been murdered. And that same morning, in the same damned breath, Colonel Mustang had handed down orders for Ed to go through Tucker's amassed material, to take _over_ the research and piece out what was useful to the military. He'd tried, he really had, but eventually he'd fallen into the same deep pit of rage as Lissa.

Then…he'd thought to quit, only to realize if he resigned as a state alchemist she'd be tossed back into the institution.

"But Lissa, I _can't_ do that to you," Ed argued back. They'd been going back and forth the whole way to Mustang's office, letting Al stay out of it and remain in the dorms—Ed wanted to just beg off the assignment, but Lissa knew Mustang wouldn't let him. He'd have to resign to get away from it. "They'll send you back there, won't they?"

She shrugged faintly. "Just for a little. Then I'll go beg Alex to take me on, and he'll get all emotional and refuse to let anybody put me somewhere else."

Ed shook his head fiercely. "Then—but Al and I might never see you again."

Lissa looked at him in surprise. She hadn't expected _that_ to be a factor in this, not at all. "He wouldn't do that," she murmured. "And you can't… You can't just do this because of me. _Please_. I'd never forgive myself for making you do that."

"But…Liss…"

"It'll be okay," she insisted. "If they don't fast-track me before then, when I turn sixteen I'll take my exam—and I'll come help you and Al. If you don't have your bodies back by then, of course."

Edward groaned and took both her hands and held on tightly, staring her right in the eyes. "Are you _sure_?" he reiterated. "You're completely sure you won't hate me for doing this? I don't want to ruin your life."

"I won't hate you, I promise."

He sighed deeply. "Okay. Then I guess I'd better do this."

Lissa squeezed his hands comfortingly. "I'll wait downstairs. They won't reassign me for a bit, so I can at least see you and Alphonse off."

She left him there, trying to keep a brave face about it. But it was hard—this had been her perfect way out, working with Edward and Alphonse to help them get their bodies back. Without that… She didn't know what to do. And now that she'd seen the darker side of being a state alchemist, she almost wanted to ask them to just stick her somewhere until she came of age rather than stay in this program, rather than stay tangled up with the military… Yet… If she did that, she really might never see Ed and Al again. And she just couldn't handle that.

Lissa sank down on a bench in the waiting room just off the front hall, resting her head in her hands and considering her options. She didn't have anywhere else to go—she was a ward of the state, and even if somebody technically took over guardianship, they'd have to pay for the housing, food, and clothing she'd used over the past five years. That was impossible all at once.

A soldier she didn't recognize walked in, looking around with this air that he was searching for somebody. Lissa waved a hand and beckoned him over. "Are you looking for someone?" she asked him. "I know this building really well, I can probably direct you if you want."

"I'm actually looking for Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist," the soldier told her. "I have a message for him."

A message? "I'm actually his—friend." _Not apprentice anymore._ "I can deliver it for you, I'm meeting back up with him as soon as he's finished upstairs. He's in a meeting with Colonel Mustang right now, actually."

The soldier bobbed his head. "Got it. Will you let him know he's got a visitor waiting outside?"

Lissa flashed a smile, albeit a forced one. She didn't feel properly _chipper_ just yet. "Sure, no problem. Thanks for letting me know, sir." As the soldier wandered away, his job completed, Lissa sat back against the wall and wondered who might be visiting Edward. It could be another alchemist, or maybe it was somebody from Resembool? She'd only met the older woman, Pinako Rockbell, but the boys had talked about their friend Winry who was Lissa's own age too. They were the only two people Ed and Al had ever mentioned, though… So she wasn't sure who else might have come.

Edward came back down a few minutes later, his face grim, and joined her on the bench. "Well, I did it," he sighed. "I resigned." He gave her an anxious look. "And you're really sure you'll be okay, Liss?"

"I am," she told him firmly. " _Nothing_ is worth what Mustang asked you."

"If you're sure."

Lissa snapped her fingers as she remembered. "Oh, yeah, somebody came in earlier and said you have a visitor. He didn't say who, just that they were waiting outside."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "A visitor? Huh. Wonder who?" he stood up and rolled his shoulders, his automail creaking just a bit, and offered her a forced sort of smile. "Let's go find out, I guess. I don't have anything better to do now anyway."

They headed out front and down the steps, but there was nobody around. "Weird," Lissa murmured, spinning on the spot. "Who would come visit you anyway?"

"I'm not sure, but…" He gasped suddenly and crouched down for a moment, snagging something off the concrete and holding it up for Lissa to see. "Check this out. It's a screw… And it looks like…" Ed held out his automail hand and placed the screw alongside it. The unique indent on the head matched perfectly, and the size too.

"Winry," he murmured. "But where the hell did she go, then?"

Lissa frowned at the screw thoughtfully. "Would she have just wandered off?"

He shook his head. "No. Er…not unless something distracted her, I guess. But she's a gearhead, so if she saw something cool she might've gone somewhere."

That still didn't explain _what_ would've made the girl leave, Lissa knew. She scowled and looked around with a new gaze, searching for any kind of clue—it would be really weird for this girl to come to visit Ed, and then vanish before she ever saw him. Something wasn't right. There was a buzzing around her ears, as Lissa walked off the last step and into the roadway, something tugging at her mind… So she released her hold on the energy and let her senses fill with whatever was nagging at her.

Rotten…meat?

Lissa pulled a face. This wasn't right at all. Central felt like gasoline and mechanics and the heavy, heavy hand of the military, tinged with coppery blood. But rotten meat was new.

She looked curiously at a puddle of water sitting in the road, the feeling rising in her mind. "Hey, Ed, look at this," she called, waving him over. "All the rain from last night burned off earlier this morning, it was dry when we got here. So what's this water then?"

Ed's eyes widened. "Hey!" he called up to one of the door guards. "Was there a car stopped here?"

The soldier stepped away from the door to join them. "Yeah, 'course," he told them, baffled. "There's always refrigerated trucks stopping here, whose dealers serve the military cafeteria. They make deliveries pretty much every day."

Edward grabbed Lissa's arm and pulled her further away from the building, his gaze suddenly turning very intense. "Liss, do you remember hearing about the serial killer here that's nobody has been able to find yet? The one who's been targeting young women. No one could figure out how he was hiding the bodies or getting around." He pointed to the puddle on the road, and Lissa went cold all over. "A refrigerated truck would let him do that."

"Oh, no," she breathed. "Ed, are you saying—that guy took your friend Winry?!"

He nodded, though he looked absolutely _terrified_. "I think so. I gotta go after them, there's a water trail from that truck, I can follow it right to where he's hiding. Go get Al and meet me there, okay?"

Lissa grabbed the lapels of his jacket. "You're going _alone_? Edward, _no_ , we should get somebody from the investigations department or something."

"There isn't time!" he insisted. "If this creep took Winry, he—he might kill her before anybody gets there. We _have_ to do this ourselves, Liss. Please. Just get Alphonse and meet me there, follow the water!"

She gritted her teeth. "You're right. Okay, I'll do it. Just—be _careful_ , please. We'll be there as soon as we can."

Edward nodded and took off running down the street, so Lissa did the same, racing towards the dorms on the other side of the grounds. She careened past alchemists and MPs alike, not caring who saw her or called out to her—she couldn't let Ed stay there alone for long!

Lissa stumbled through the doors of the dorms building, and rammed right into something hard and metal, which let out a hollow _clang_. "Al!" she gasped, grabbing onto him to keep from falling. "You have to come with me, Ed and Winry are in danger!" _Not your best moment, Caito. Really not. You didn't need to say it like that._

"What?!" Al looked down at her in shock. "Ed and Winry? When did Winry get here? What's going on?"

She shook her head. "I'll explain on the way. I think we found that serial killer, Al! And he's got Winry!"

That was enough to spur him into action. Lissa took off running back towards the front of Central HQ, Al at her heels, and found that same puddle of water she and Ed had found. While they tracked the rest of it, following it through the streets of Central, Lissa explained the rest of it—the refrigerator truck, Ed finding Winry's screw, and the girl vanishing without anyone seeing her go anywhere.

"This is really bad, isn't it, Lissa?" Alphonse asked her quietly, as their trail led them into a worse part of town, a sort of factory and warehouse district.

She nodded. "It is." Lissa looked up at him, thinking. "Do you have chalk with you?"

"I have some, yeah. Do you have your transmutation circles drawn?" he asked her, apparently in the same mindset. They might have to fight here.

Lissa cursed under her breath. "No." She skidded to a halt and yanked out her pen, hurrying to ink the familiar circles on her wrists—then she yanked up her shirt and drew another one on her stomach. "They never expect that one," she confided in him. "Okay, let's go."

The two turned down the next street and found an open door to one brick building, with cold air wafting out—and the sound of metal on metal echoing from deep within. "Rotten meat," Lissa breathed, her stomach clenching. "This is it, Al."

 _Rotten meat…and amber…salt like the ocean…is that fear? What's amber?_

She closed her eyes for a moment and focused inward, trying to delve into that secret part of herself. What was here? _It feels like gasoline, like…oil and metal… Like the Rockbells'… And parchment and amber, that's familiar too… But why? Is salt from crying or fear? I don't understand… What does it mean?_

Lissa looked up to see Al stepping inside, and hurried to follow him in, her heart pounding so hard in her chest it knocked around in her ears too.

Rows and rows of meat. Pig carcasses, by the looks of it. So it was a butcher's warehouse, then? No wonder it was so cold. She focused on the air currents brushing against her exposed hands, her right hand lifting and reaching forward, feeling for the disturbances. "There," she breathed, pointing to their left. "I think it's-"

Someone screamed—there was a thud, like bodies hitting the floor, coupled with a metallic _clang_. Alphonse moved first, running faster than Lissa could go without using her alchemy, but she was too terrified to use it yet. She just chased after him as fast as her legs would take her.

They rounded a row of carcasses to see Edward, crumpled on the floor, his automail at a horrible angle with his blade transmuted out, swinging his arm wide to stab the man lying on the floor in front of him.

Al lunged and caught Ed's arm just before the blow landed. "Don't!"

Ed flinched, let out a terrified breathy sound—and spun round, lashing out with his blade and catching Al right across the abdomen.

Pressing a hand to the spot, Al murmured, "It'll take a lot more than that to kill me, brother."

Lissa sank to her knees beside Edward, ignoring the mess soaking into her trousers, and took him by the shoulders. He was crying, bleeding from all kinds of cuts all over his arms, and his breath was hitching like he might panic. "It's okay," she whispered. "You're safe now, it's okay…"

The man behind him shifted and raised his head, giving a wild, insane smile. "Safe, are you?"

Edward flinched away, crying out as he pressed into Lissa's shoulder, terrified. She bared her teeth at the man, suddenly furious. Lissa took hold of the air currents around her hand, gathered them with a flurry of blue sparks—and sent a gust of super-compressed air right into the man's abdomen. He went flying, end over end, before finally ramming into one of the carcasses and dropping to the ground.

"Don't you touch him," Lissa snarled, and pulled Ed into her even tighter.

She heard the click of boots on the ground, got a heady burst of leather and gunmetal—and suddenly MPs flooded the building, taking control of the situation immediately. A couple stood over the serial killer, who just grinned and raised his hands in surrender in the face of several guns aimed at him.

Lissa held Edward out from her, just enough to look him in the eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

He looked between her and Alphonse, tears still streaming down his cheeks. Stupid question, again. "Al, Liss, I…"

Al knelt down beside them. "Brother… Are you hurt?"

Edward bowed his head, pressing both hands onto the concrete as he cried. "I—I thought he was gonna kill me," he whispered. "I honestly thought I was gonna die." His breath hitched in a terrified sob. "I was so scared…so scared…"

"That's not going to happen," Lissa told him quietly, bringing her arm around him again even as Al rested a hand on his shoulder. "I won't let it. We won't let him touch you ever again."

He ducked his face against her shoulder and let out a quiet, rough sob. Lissa swallowed hard against the sudden wave of tears, realizing too late she was trembling too—if she and Al hadn't come running… If she hadn't listened when Edward said there wasn't enough time… So, so many things could've gone wrong and if they had, she might not be-

Lissa grabbed onto Ed so tightly she must've knocked the breath out of his lungs. "Never again," she swore.


	5. Be Thou for the People

So! If you haven't read the manga/watched the original anime, the events in this chapter may seem a touch foreign to you. No judging, it's hard as hell to go through THREE different sets of media to get the bulk of this universe - so, if you've only had the opportunity to watch Brotherhood, you'll only peripherally recognize what happens here. Rest assured the overall plot is canon-compliant. Have fun!

* * *

After everything, Mustang had done Ed a kindness, it seemed. Lissa was surprised when he'd passed on new, changed orders—for Edward to go to a small mining town known as Youswell for an inspection. He'd given up on making Ed take on Tucker's work, apparently. So that very day, once Ed had been bandaged up, Lissa, Ed, and Al boarded a train bound eastward, towards Youswell.

"I think the last time I came east of Central, I was going to Resembool," Lissa observed, sitting sideways on the train bench with her legs kicked across Ed's lap. She was kindly keeping her boots off him, at least.

Ed made a face. "I hope this place isn't as boring as Resembool."

Lissa peeked over the back of the bench at the empty carriage and grimaced. "Yeah, I don't think we're gonna be so lucky."

"I kinda like it," Al piped up, ever the more optimistic one. "It's like having our own private carriage. Like we're VIPs or something."

That caused Edward to scowl—Lissa could feel him tense up under her legs. "Well, we're not. This is my _job_ now. Dog of the military. I gotta roll over and wag my tail whenever they want me to." He crossed his arms over his chest. "There's nothing special about it."

Lissa tapped his shoulder to get him to look at her. "Not if you have that attitude. Look, we're both stuck in this, Ed. But at least we can decide to have a little fun doing it, right?"

"Why would you stick with this, anyway?" he asked her, apparently not willing to lighten up just yet. "After all the crap we just went through, why would you stick around to become a state alchemist? Why not just…go somewhere else? Al and I don't really have a choice, but you could get out anytime you wanted."

She jerked her legs off him and turned away, angry even though she knew it was a stupid reaction. "I can't."

Al's armor clanked as he leaned in. "Why not, Lissa?"

Blinking slowly, she turned to see them both staring at her in confusion, realizing something very vital. "You guys…don't know how institutions like the one I grew up in work, do you?" she asked hesitantly. She hated this part, the truth of how she lived. But if they were going to be so stupid and insist she should just leave…she had no choice but to explain it.

"Er…I thought it was just like any other group home," Ed admitted, shrugging.

Lissa rolled her eyes. "Well, it's not. For normal kids, if you're a ward of the state they'll just stick you somewhere until you turn eighteen, then turn you out on your ass. You go to a state-run school and it doesn't cost much to raise kids like that. But…for alchemist kids…it's different." She gripped her newly-transmuted black leather jacket and glared at the far end of the train car, trying to find the words. "They say it costs more, at facilities like mine…because they train us and give us specialized lessons, to prepare us for becoming state alchemists. But since it costs more, we're expected to pay back the money it cost to raise us and put us through school."

Edward's eyes were wide. "Wait, you're saying they put you in debt to the military just for—giving you a place to stay? What the hell?"

"Not just that," she admitted tightly. "You're expected to become a state alchemist, no questions asked—and once you do become one, you get all the normal research grants…but you owe the state back for the cost of your housing and education and everything. And every year they stack up the interest too. Most kids I knew came there when they were about our age now, so they only owed a few years back. But…I came there when I was seven. By the time I'm allowed to take my exams, I'll owe nine years of debt to the state. I'll have to make monthly payments until I pay it off—or until I die."

"But that's…that's not _fair_ ," Alphonse protested, sounding upset. "Did they not give you a choice? Were you forced to go there?"

Lissa felt a bitter smile crawl up on her face. "They gave me a choice. I already knew a lot about alchemy, so I was dangerous…especially since I work with intangibles… So they told me I could either spend the next eleven years of my life locked away for _safety reasons_ , or I could sign up for the state alchemist program."

"That isn't a real choice!" Ed yelled, incensed. She looked over at him in shock to see his face contorted with rage. "Who the hell says that to a _seven-year-old_ kid?!"

She swallowed hard. She hadn't meant to upset him with this… "I don't think it was set up for kids that age… Usually seven-year-olds aren't alchemists at all. So I just kind of…broke the system, I guess."

Edward shook his head fiercely. "That's no excuse." He let out a harsh breath and looked at her, the rage fading to pity she didn't want. "I'm sorry, Liss. I had no idea. I never would've said that if I'd known." He leaned into the back of the seat and let his arms fall to his sides, looking…sort of lost. "I guess we're both really trapped then, huh?"

"You don't have to pity me," she told him bluntly. "Not you two."

"Why?" Al asked her sharply. "Because of what we did? We did that to ourselves, Lissa. Everything that happened to us in Resembool was _our_ fault. You didn't ask for any of this—you just lost your parents. How can we not feel bad for you?"

She looked over at Al, feeling bad for her reaction. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I just… I guess it's bad all around."

Edward smiled and draped his arm over her shoulders—she didn't mind that it was automail, it still was a sweet gesture. "Yeah, you're right about that. We all got dealt a shit hand, didn't we? But it's better this way, for us all to be together. At least we understand each other, right? And we can help each other get through it too."

Lissa bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from blushing. "Yeah," she agreed softly, leaning her head over onto his shoulder and closing her eyes. "You're right about that. I'm really glad I met you guys."

"We're glad we met you too, Lissa," Al told her sweetly.

By the time the train pulled into Youswell station, Lissa was feeling better—not entirely up to her usual standards yet, but not nearly as bad as she'd been before. The boys seemed lighter too, the buzzing around her ears reduced to a faint hum that she could put out of her mind. Thankfully, because she wanted to focus. As much as she was just Ed's trainee, she also felt kind of…responsible for his performance, too. That meant she had to be really on it here, his first real mission.

They hopped off when the train ground to a halt, and Lissa tugged her backpack higher on her shoulders. It held everything she had to her name, after all, plus her newest addition. Ed had told her in no uncertain terms that any alchemist worth their salt kept coded research notes, so she'd begun keeping track in a notebook.

Or…she was trying to. Encoding things didn't exactly come naturally to her.

"So this is Youswell, huh?" Ed muttered, squinting at the too-quiet town around them, at the people just…sitting around like all the life had been sucked out of them. "I thought a mining town would be livelier… But this place… It's like a ghost town here."

"Weird," Lissa agreed as they stepped away from the station. "I wonder what's up?"

They'd scarcely taken five steps away from the train station when Edward suddenly yelled out in pain. Lissa saw him get clocked right in the head by a piece of lumber, carried by a boy who had to be about their own age. "Whoops, sorry!" the boy apologized, turning and grinning at them sheepishly.

Edward scowled at him. "Hey, watch where you're going, you little-"

But the boy wasn't listening at all anymore. "Dad!" he yelled, setting the end of his lumber down on the ground. "Look, tourists! Do you guys know where you're staying? Have you eaten? Where'd you come from, anyway?"

"I guess we're a novelty," Al observed, looking down at Lissa in surprise.

From up above them, working on some higher mining platform, an older man looked down and grinned. "What's that, Khayal? What are you going on about?" he called down.

The boy, Khayal, lifted Ed's arm and waved it around. "Customers, dad! Big spenders!"

Ed jerked his arm away and stuck his hands in his pockets irritably. "Who said we're big spenders?" he grumbled.

Lissa giggled and threaded her arm through his. "C'mon, Ed. We might as well go with it, right? It's not like we know our way in this town anyway."

The older man up on the platform tugged off his hardhat and waved down. "Hey! My name is Halling, I run the local inn. We'll take good care of you, honest." He stuck his hardhat under his arm and headed for the ladder leading down from the platform. "Here. Lemme show you folks in."

"See?" Lissa murmured, smirking. "A place to stay."

Ed wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, whatever."

They followed Halling and Khayal through the sleepy town as the sun set around them, and Lissa reflected that it could be a pretty town—kind of picturesque, if it wanted to be. But not feeling this run-down and tired, for sure. How strange. Why had Mustang sent them here anyway, to this far-east town after all the high-profile things Edward had done recently? She wondered, just fleetingly, if maybe he was trying to punish them with boredom. She wouldn't put it past him.

Halling led them into the front door of the liveliest place they'd seen yet. It was full of coal miners and the like, all drinking and sitting at rough wooden tables all around. Lissa felt a bit uncomfortable, as one of the few females in sight. She knew if she did become a state alchemist, she'd be even more surrounded by men—but still, that didn't make her feel any _better_ about it.

"Sorry if it's a little bit dusty," Halling told them as they entered. "I know it's not much, but since the coal mine's wages are so low, I gotta work here at the same time to keep dinner on the table."

Lissa smiled at him. "No, it's lovely." She paused at the little desk by the door with the boys, while a woman—possibly Halling's wife, she thought, though she wasn't sure—checked them in on her logbook.

"Now, is that one room or two, for one night?" she asked, smiling over the top of the desk at them.

Edward glanced sideways at Lissa, looking a bit uncertain. They hadn't exactly discussed sleeping arrangements, she realized with a jolt, and because they'd been staying in separate places back in Central it had never come up. Well, there was the one night they stayed in the dorms, but Lissa had taken her own room then because it didn't cost anything extra. If she stayed in a separate room every single place they visited, that would _double_ what it cost for Ed and Al to travel. The thought made her stomach churn—she owed enough money as it was. "Just one is fine," she piped up quickly. "As long as there's a couple beds and a couch."

Thankfully, Halling's wife didn't think anything of it. "We can do that, sure."

Al tilted his head curiously. "And…what are your rates?" he asked.

Halling grinned and barked a laugh from where he'd begun serving customers across the room. "Well, they're not cheap, that's for sure."

Ed waved a hand passively at him. "Eh, I'm sure we can cope. Despite our appearances, we've got plenty of cash."

 _You shouldn't have told him that,_ Lissa thought derisively.

"Oh, is that so?" Halling smirked and held up two fingers. "It's two hundred thousand."

" _WHAT_?!" Ed yelped, his jaw dropping. "Two hundred thousand?! Are you trying to _rob_ us? What, are you gonna put gold bars on our pillows?!"

But Halling didn't back down. "It's a fair price, seeing as our inn's the finest in all of Youswell."

"Not to mention the _only_ inn," Khayal interjected, grinning widely.

"We don't get guests passing through very often, so we gotta get what we can from you folks," Halling explained brightly. "That's just business, I'm afraid."

Ed scowled at him for a moment—then dragged Al and Lissa into the corner and yanked out his wallet, crouching down to look through it. He'd brought plenty, but not for _these_ rates. "Ugh, this isn't even close to enough," he lamented.

"We spent all that money on Winry too, before we left," Al tacked on sadly.

"Oh man… I don't wanna sleep on the street," Ed groaned, closing the wallet and stuffing it back into his pocket.

Lissa didn't particularly want to do that either. "Maybe we can pay them some other way."

Edward's eyes lit up. "Oh, right." He wiggled his fingers helpfully. "Hey, uh, Mr. Halling?" he called, rising from the floor and flashing a winning smile. "So, um…what about a trade, instead of the fee? Something of…equal value?"

"A trade?" Halling asked dryly. "What exactly are you proposing, kid?"

Just the fact that he was willing to listen meant they had a shot, and Ed clearly knew that. "Here, bring me something broken. Something that can't be repaired."

There was a sort of communal shuffling around in the room—a few discussions, murmured too softly for Lissa to hear. Then a table was cleared near the middle of the room, and one of the miners sat a broken pickaxe down on it, in several pieces. The handle had been splintered in a couple places, pretty severely, while the axe head itself was severed right down the middle.

Ed winked at Lissa as he strode up to the table, clapped his hands together—and with a burst of blue transmutation energy, he repaired the axe perfectly.

Amid the shouts of _it looks brand new_ , _this is amazing_ , and the like, a few more objects were brought by. Some mining tools, what looked like a hitch for a wagon, and Halling's wife brought by a vase that had some sentimental value to her as well. The spectacle was perfect, especially with Ed's little hand-clap flourish thing. Lissa knew how he did it—he'd explained that ever since he and Al had attempted human transmutation, he'd been able to perform alchemy without drawing a circle first. But he didn't like to explain that to anyone else, so she kept her mouth shut when a couple people absently wondered how he did it.

"Who'd have thought our first customers in ages would be real-live alchemists," Halling laughed, a huge shift from how he'd been acting before. "I took a crack at alchemy myself once, a long time ago, but it never went anywhere. Tell you what, you kids fix a few more things, and I'll give you a big discount for you room and meals. Sound good?"

"Definitely!" Ed told him brightly.

Lissa felt a tug on her pants, and turned to see a little girl who barely came up to her knee holding a stuffed doll with a ripped-off arm up to her. "Do you think you can fix my dolly?" she asked softly. The girl's mother was behind her, looking hopeful.

"Of course," Lissa agreed instantly. "Hey, Al, can I borrow your chalk for a moment?"

Al shuffled around inside the armor, hidden behind his little drape, and withdrew the stick of chalk he kept for drawing transmutation circles. She was used to using the circles drawn on her skin, but the ones she'd put today didn't allow for basic repairs. Stupid, really. She'd have to get better at that. Lissa thanked him and took the chalk, then knelt down beside the little girl and carefully drew out her transmutation circle.

"Why you gotta draw that?" the girl asked curiously, peering over her shoulder.

Lissa smiled to herself. "Well, I'm just learning. The blond kid over there is kind of my teacher, that's why he can do it without the circle—but most alchemists need a transmutation circle before they do anything." She finished the circle and carefully took the girl's doll, already assessing its state. It was a clean rip, not much fraying or damage, and it didn't seem to have lost any stuffing. Perfect.

"Can you fix it, Miss Alchemist?" the girl asked her anxiously.

"Yup! I definitely can." Lissa placed the doll in the circle and pressed her hands to the edge, focusing inward. In seconds, the floor lit up with blue energy—and when it died down, the doll was in one piece again.

The girl gasped and rushed to grab it, holding the doll tightly to her chest and giggling. "Yay! Thank you so much, Miss Alchemist!"

"It's Lissa," she told her, rising to her feet and smiling down at her. "And you're very welcome."

"Hey, Liss!" Ed called over, waving to her from where he'd now taken a seat at one of the tables. "Come on, we've got food!"

Lissa ruffled the girl's hair and crossed the room to rejoin the boys, pulling up a seat beside Ed and picking up her knife and fork eagerly. She hadn't realized until she smelled food just how hungry she was—but now she was _starving_.

"So, what brings you guys here to Youswell?" asked Khayal, leaning on the edge of the table. "There can't be much here for an alchemist like you to do."

Ed flashed a grin as he went to dive into his food. "Oh, it's business, actually. I'm here to inspect the coal mine."

Silence.

Lissa picked her head up and stared around the room, stunned by the sudden hostility. "Um, Ed… Maybe you shouldn't…"

"Inspect?" Halling repeated. "Then you're part of the military?"

Edward looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed now. "Well, yeah. I'm a state alchemist, actually. My name's Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist."

And the whole title. Lissa could've rolled her eyes at him. Zero awareness.

In seconds, Halling had snatched up his food and carried a squirming Ed out the door by the back of his cloak, where he tossed him into the street unceremoniously. His suitcase soon followed. All around Lissa and Al, the other miners were chattering angrily, giving them suspicious sidelong looks like they were part of some scheme to ruin their lives.

"Hey! The hell was _that_ for?!" Ed demanded, picking himself up out of the dirt.

Halling stood in the doorway, glaring down at him. "We have no food or beds to offer the dogs of the military," he announced harshly. Then he rounded on Al and Lissa and fixed his glare on them. "What about you two? You state alchemists too?"

"Well, no," Al admitted, sounding very nervous. "We aren't, but…"

"They've got nothing to do with it!" Ed yelled, now standing out in the street and scowling in at the miners. "They don't even _like_ what I do to begin with. They aren't military."

Halling grunted, seeming to consider it for a moment—then he turned back to Edward and ground out, "Fine then. They can stay." He grabbed the doorknob and added, " _You_ can sleep on the street like the rest of the dogs." And with that, he slammed the door shut behind him, leaving Ed stuck out alone.

Lissa looked up at Alphonse uncertainly. "We can't just leave him there," she whispered.

"But they won't let him back in, either," he sighed. "Okay. Lissa, you try and find out why these coal miners hate the military so much, and I'll work on finding a way to sneak my portion of food out to brother, so he doesn't starve at least."

She sighed deeply, unhappy, but nodded anyway. "When you go, will you tell him that I'll come check on him later too?"

Al patted her shoulder gently. "Of course." He got up to go speak with some of the other miners, while Lissa turned and caught Khayal's eye, a bit surprised when the boy came and sat down next to her in a huff. "So…your dad really doesn't like the military, does he?" she asked him curiously.

Khayal scowled. "How could he? _Everyone_ around here hates the military. Especially that greedy First Lieutenant Yoki. He's in charge of Youswell, and he's the _worst_. He bribes all the higher-ups in Central to look the other way, and he keeps everyone's salaries as low as he can and takes all the money for himself."

"And it's only gonna get worse, now that he's got that sneaky little state alchemist around to do his dirty work," Halling griped as he passed.

"Why do you hang around with him, anyway?" Khayal asked her.

Lissa tightened her hands into fists under the table. "Well," she began, trying to keep her cover of hating the military, "if you had the choice between just having one single reminder of how trapped you are, or a constant flood of reminders every day, which would you pick?"

That wasn't the truth—but it _could_ have been, had she been assigned to anyone else. Lissa felt incredibly lucky to have pulled this off, getting assigned to Ed, because he was her _friend_ and she cared about him and Al. They made her forget exactly how stuck she was, what a bad situation she was going to be in no matter what she did. Without them…her life would've been _so_ much worse. But if she voiced that to Khayal, then Halling would toss her out just like Ed.

"Kid like you deserves better than that," Halling told her decisively. "'Alchemist; be thou for the people.' That's their phrase, isn't it? What a load of crap. They're all self-serving money-grabbing thugs."

She couldn't help herself. "I don't know about that," Lissa told him honestly, looking up from her half-eaten plate of food. "I've known a lot of state alchemists… After my parents were killed, I ended up in Central so I've at least seen most of the big-name state alchemists. And…some of them _are_ terrible. They treated me like dirt beneath their boots. But, at the same time…there were some who treated me very kindly and made a big difference in my quality of life."

Halling scoffed. " _Kind_ state alchemists. I don't think there's such a thing."

"There is," she insisted firmly. "You just have to go looking, that's all."

As the evening wore on, Lissa caught Al sneaking his plate of food out for Ed, which made her feel better. At least he wasn't going hungry. She felt terrible, sitting in here while he was stuck outside, but he'd gone out of his way to make sure she and Al could stay inside—and it felt like she'd be turning her nose up at the kind thing he'd done if she ruined that.

Al rejoined her once he was finished, settling carefully into the chair beside her and sighing. "I feel bad, coming back in here when brother's still outside," he admitted to her quietly.

"Me too," Lissa told him. "But he'd only be upset with us if we got ourselves kicked out."

His shoulders slumped. "I guess so. Did you learn anything, at least?"

"Tons." She quickly filled him in—the taxes, Lieutenant Yoki, and the miners' rage at the injustice. And apparently, he'd heard the same thing in his own searching. "It sounds like some really bad stuff is going on here, from what I've been hearing," she mused, absently tracing transmutation circles with her fingertip. "Bribery, over-taxation, all of it… This Yoki guy sounds super corrupt."

"Brother thought maybe he can fix some of it," Al confided, leaning in closer to keep their conversation private. "We talked about it when I went out earlier. I mean, he is here to inspect the town, right? Maybe he'll find evidence of something bad."

"I hope so," Lissa muttered. "Even though these people tossed Ed out like that, they're not _bad_ people—they're just angry that they've been abused for so long."

Al nodded solemnly. "Exactly. There's no way we can just leave here and pretend nothing's wrong… We have to do something, don't we?"

There was a commotion at the door—someone shouted _out of my way_ , and Lissa looked up to see three soldiers in full uniform walking in the front. Two were armed with swords, scowling, while the leader held a handkerchief to his face like he'd smelled something rotten. "Mh, seems your inn is as filthy as ever, Halling," he observed snidely.

Halling glared at him from the far side of the bar. "Lieutenant Yoki. You know, you should cover up your face more often, it's a good look on you."

Yoki lowered the handkerchief and narrowed his eyes. "I'd hold my tongue if I were you. The taxes on this establishment are long overdue—and the insolence doesn't stop here, no. I could say the same for the whole town."

"My apologies," Halling all but sneered. "I can't do anything to fix our low wages, unfortunately."

Yoki cast a disdainful look around the room. "Though it seems they're still high enough to afford alcohol, aren't they?" he mused. "So I suppose it won't matter if I simply…lowered your income a little. As payment for the unpaid taxes, naturally."

The room erupted into anger. Lissa surreptitiously tugged one of her jacket sleeves up, to make sure her transmutation circles were still in place. She didn't like the energy of the room one bit. _Feels like…fire, like anger… And that sickly-sweet metallic feeling of money being handled. This can't be good, not at all._

Amid the shouting, Lissa noticed Khayal clenching a dirty dishrag—then he shouted, "You can't push us around like that!" As he yelled, he reared back and threw the rag directly into Yoki's face.

"You little brat!" one of Yoki's guards snarled.

Too quickly for anyone to react, Yoki strode forward and backhanded Khayal across the face, so hard the boy went crashing to the floor in a heap. Then the Lieutenant lifted his fingers and made a small motion to his guard—who stepped forward and placed a hand on his sword. "Don't show him any mercy just because he's a child," Yoki ordered coldly. "I want him to be an example for these ruffians."

Lissa dropped out of her chair, under the table, and raced forward—she wasn't sure what she intended to do until she slid to her knees and grabbed Khayal, putting herself in the sword's path instead.

 _Clang!_

She lifted her head in time to see the top half of the sword go flying across the room, broken. Above her stood Edward, face set in a harsh scowl, his automail arm up with the lower half of the sword still resting against him—and the soldier wielding it giving him a baffled, terrified sort of look. Lissa knew he must have heard the commotion and come rushing in to interfere.

"Who the hell are you?!" Yoki demanded, furious.

Lissa pushed Khayal away, to his feet, and let him run off into his mother's arms. She didn't want him in harm's way anymore. When she turned back towards the escalating conflict, Edward was holding his hand out for her, so she grabbed on and got to her feet beside him.

"Me? Oh, I'm nobody," Edward dismissed idly, checking his cloak for any damage. "I just heard the First Lieutenant stopped by, so I figured…" He stuck his hand down into his right pocket and pulled out his state alchemist's pocket watch, displaying it for Yoki to see. The man's terror was palpable when he spotted it. "Why not come say hi?"

One of Yoki's guards leaned in towards his commander and asked, "Who does this brat think he is, sir?"

Yoki gaped at him. "You moron!" he hissed. "That watch makes him a state alchemist! It means he reports directly to Führer King Bradley himself!"

The two mumbled some more together, so Ed sighed and tucked his pocket watch away again. "Do you have a death wish or something?" he asked her lowly, looking frustrated. "That wasn't your best plan, Liss. You could've just used alchemy on the guy. And if I hadn't gotten here in time…"

She swallowed hard. "I guess that's why I'm still training, huh?"

Edward squeezed her hand tightly for a moment before letting go. "Just…be careful. That's all."

Yoki cleared his throat and stepped forward, so Lissa moved back, still attempting to keep a little separation between her and the military for the sake of the coal miners, at least. "I apologize for the actions of my subordinate," he began, giving Ed what had to be his most charming smile. It still looked sleazy. "I'm First Lieutenant Yoki, I'm in charge of this—eh—quaint little town. What brings you all the way out here, might I ask?"

"I'm just here to conduct an inspection," Ed told him, shrugging.

Though Yoki's voice cracked when he spoke, he managed to hold it together as he replied, "Oh, an inspection! Well, in that case, might I suggest you accompany me to stay at my mansion? You'll find it far more agreeable than this…filthy place."

Lissa watched something come over Ed's face—the little spark in his gold eyes when he had a plan. "Yeah, sounds great," he agreed slowly, like it was actually a good idea. "Since I'm not allowed to stay here anyway."

With the coal miners watching, a combination of confused and angry, Ed wandered right out with Yoki and his men, without a single look over his shoulder.

"I knew it," Halling growled. "I knew he was just like all the others."

Lissa bit the inside of her cheek to keep from retorting. He hadn't seen what she did—and he didn't know Ed at all, so he wouldn't know that there was only one reason Ed would go off with a slimy man like that. He had a plan.

"Mr. Halling… I'm afraid Al and I don't have enough to pay for a room on our own," Lissa told him honestly, before he walked away. "You've been very kind to us and given us food, but…"

He shook his head firmly. "You were willing to risk your life to save my Khayal. You two are welcome to stay tonight, free of charge. Besides, if anything else breaks, we'll know where to find you, right?"

She nodded and let that go. At least she could sleep in a bed tonight.

Khayal approached her as his dad left and gave her an uncertain smile. "Um, Miss Lissa… Thank you for stepping in like that. But… You're an alchemist, aren't you? So why didn't you just use alchemy on those guys?"

 _Really, Lissa. Why didn't you?_

"Well…" She leaned into the table behind her and sighed. "Alchemists aren't infallible. We make mistakes too, we're just humans like anybody else. But also…the truth is…" Lissa glanced sideways as Al approached, apparently wanting to hear this too. "For most of my life, I was in a place where I wasn't allowed to use my alchemy for just anything. I had to either be with a trainer or have special permission to use it. So I guess I just don't have the instincts built in yet to use alchemy before anything else. That's why I'm training outside a school now, though—to become a better alchemist."

He gave her a curious look. "But you fixed Maya's doll earlier, didn't you? You're already a great alchemist."

Lissa shrugged. "Being able to fix things isn't all that makes a great alchemist. It's all science, and when you're using it out in the world, there's a lot of instinct that you have to learn too. And my defensive alchemy isn't always the best, a lot of what I do is offensive." She found herself smiling as she added, "Ed—the little state alchemist with the red cloak—is really good at all sides of it. That's why I'm learning from him. _He_ saved you, Khayal. Not me."


	6. Promises to Keep

Welcome to the last chapter of my initial burst! I'm going to give it a little time, see how it goes, and then assess whether or not I should continue to post this, based on the reception I get. This is crossposted to AO3 as well, so if it's doing all right there I'll probably keep crossposting it. So please let me know what you think so far! I would love to get feedback! As I stated before, this is going to be over 400k words, at current estimation, which means there's a LOT more story to tell if you'd like. Thank you so much for checking this out, and I hope you enjoy this last little chapter before the oncoming time jump!

* * *

"Lissa! _Lissa_! Wake up!"

She jolted upright to the acrid stench of smoke, and Alphonse above her shaking her frantically. "What the hell's going on?" she gasped, rolling out of bed.

"The inn's on fire! We gotta go!" Al yelled. He grabbed her by the arm, and her backpack with his other arm, and all but dragged her from the room. Lissa raced after him, coughing on the smoke, her eyes watering too much to see. Without Al, she didn't think she could've made it out, not without him guiding her. Thankfully he wasn't affected by the elements in the air.

They burst out the front of the inn, among a bunch of other patrons—and Halling and his wife at the middle, both frantic and yelling.

Lissa rushed up to them. "Mr. Halling, what's going on?" she asked him urgently.

He gave her a panicked look, and she noticed he was _crying_. "It's Khayal! We can't find him anywhere!"

Khayal?!

Oh, no.

Lissa turned and looked up at the building, trying to sense the elements, working both her alchemical senses and that other one, the deeper one, her eyes closed as she focused. _Fire…and smoke, all the burned bits of wood… Carbon, monoxide and dioxide… And… There's something else… I sense…salt… Salt is fear. It has to be._

"He's still in there," she breathed.

Lissa stripped out of her jacket and tossed it into the dirt, leaving herself in her pink-purple tank top and bare-armed. She squared her shoulders, took a breath—and ran right back inside.

" _Lissa! Stop it, don't go in there!_ "

The air inside the inn was blistering hot, wind whipping her hair into her eyes, but she didn't need to see now. Lissa could _feel_ instead. She felt all the elements against her skin, the gases and particles in the air, rushing all around her… Blue energy crackled around her hands and up her arms as she harnessed the elements, gathering the smoke and heat and pressing it down, down, trying to smother the fire and make a path.

"Khayal!" she yelled, ducking forward through a half-collapsed doorway. "Follow my voice!"

Lissa heard a thump—then cried out as Khayal tumbled down the stairs and landed square in her chest. She rolled him off and focused her energy again, this time pushing the foreign particles out and up the stairwell, their natural path. Then she grabbed Khayal by the back of his shirt and hauled him up. "Come on, grab onto me and don't let go!" she ordered. He latched onto the back of her shirt immediately, mercifully leaving her arms free, and therefore her alchemy available.

She sensed the falling beam just before it hit her—Lissa shoved backwards, out of its path, feeling Khayal stumble behind her, though he didn't fall.

 _I have to move this,_ she realized. _Move it or—reconstruct it!_

Lissa knew the beam was still smoldering, so she compressed the air around it until she had put out a small section of the fire—then, squinting through the smoke, she rammed her hands down onto the beam and focused hard. She had to find the spaces between the atoms, just like she'd done with her uniforms, and expand them until…

The beam disintegrated beneath her hands.

"Miss Lissa!" Khayal yelped, panicked. "The ceiling is gonna come down!"

"Hold your breath!" she snapped. There was no more time left. She grabbed onto his forearm with her left hand, and stuck her right one forward—one would have to be enough. Lissa summoned up all her energy and forced every bit of air out of the path before them, all the way to the door. She didn't have time to suck in a breath of her own, so she just ran with starving lungs, dragging Khayal behind her, as the building began to collapse all around them.

Lissa tumbled down the stairs at the front, losing her grip on Khayal as she fell, and rolled to a stop in the middle of the street. She coughed and sucked in a deep, greedy breath, her lungs burning with all the foreign particles she'd inhaled.

"You idiot!" That was Al, grabbing her up and rolling her onto her back. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

She put both hands on her own chest, let that blue energy gather—and breathed out, hard, as she loosened all the foreign particles and expelled them from her own lungs. "I know," she panted, finally breathing clear air again. "But—intangibles, Al. Remember? I was the only one who could've done it."

He seemed to be glaring at her, from what she could see. "That was reckless!" he told her sharply. "You need to be more careful next time! And…" Al sort of wilted a bit. "Don't do things alone, okay?"

Lissa reached up and pressed a hand to his chest. "Okay. I'm sorry, Al." She pushed up on her elbows and looked around, anxious. "Is Khayal all right?"

"He's fine," Al confirmed softly, pointing to her left. She followed his finger to see Khayal with his family, his dad embracing him tightly and his mother crying at their side. Good. So she'd done it, she'd actually saved him.

She grabbed onto Al's shoulder and pulled to her feet, and made her way over to join them. "Here," she murmured, as Khayal coughed deeply. "You inhaled a lot of horrible stuff from that fire… Let me help you." Lissa knelt and put her hands to his chest, focusing just like she'd done for herself—the particles were easy to spot among the tissue and blood and oxygen that belonged, so she loosened them and urged them out as he coughed again, until finally his lungs were clear.

"Thank you," Halling told her in a tight, emotional voice. "You saved our son."

Lissa took Al's proffered hand and got back to her feet, suddenly uncomfortable with the gratitude. "It's what alchemists are supposed to do," she whispered. "Help people."

By morning, the fire had burned itself out, and Lissa had tuned into the fact that she'd sustained a few burns from the whole ordeal—nothing too serious, but it stung and ached, especially one on her right leg. That one was pretty bad. She sat opposite the burned-down inn just as light crept through the down and cut away part of her pants leg to reveal the injury, and then bound it up as best she could.

"Al? Lissa?"

She looked up from where she'd been leaning against Al's arm to see Ed walking up, looking confused and angry. Lissa just lifted a hand to wave at him. "I guess you had a better night than us," she observed softly.

He scowled and knelt one step down from her, examining her leg. "You're hurt. What was this, did Yoki's men burn this place down?"

"It had to be," Alphonse asserted. "I heard some of the miners talking earlier, they said they saw some of Yoki's men lurking around here last night, just before the fire started. Lissa and I got out fine, but…once we got outside, we found out that Khayal, Mr. Halling's son, was still inside. So Lissa ran back in and got him out."

Lissa stuck her tongue out at him. "Thanks for covering for me."

Ed stared at her in shock. "You ran into a burning building?! What the _hell_ , Lissa? Why would you do something that stupid?!"

"Intangibles," she snapped at him, angry. "Or did you forget? That kid would've died if I didn't go back! If I have to be a state alchemist, I'd rather be the kind that shirks the system and _helps_ people, not the kind that turns their back and walks away!"

He grabbed her shoulders and leaned up, right in her face as he growled, "There's a big difference between helping people and throwing your life away!"

"Is there?" Lissa shot back. "Not last night, there wasn't. And where were _you_ , huh? Holed up in that ass Yoki's huge mansion in some expensive bed, weren't you?" She pushed him away and got to her feet, limping down the steps just to put some distance between them. "You have no right to treat me like that, like I'm—like I'm some stupid kid who doesn't understand how the world works! I _know_ the value of a life, Ed! I know how much it hurts to lose someone!"

Ed stood up and stared at her, not angry anymore… Just looking ashamed. "I—Liss, I didn't mean…"

"Just— _don't_ ," she told him harshly. "I need a minute."

Lissa stalked away as Khayal ran up to Edward and began begging him for something. It took her a moment of slow walking to realize he was asking Ed to transmute gold for them—the one thing an alchemist was known for, yet never allowed to do. It wasn't as taboo as human transmutation, but it was just as _illegal_. She knew he'd never do it. He'd already given up.

She pinched the skin on the back of her hand to keep from crying, and didn't stop walking.

—

Lissa was sitting on the edge of town, out in the railyard with her legs dangling off a platform, when the boys found her. She knew it was them by the telltale clank of Al's steps, though he wasn't the one who approached her—Ed did, sitting down beside her and resting his arms on the same railing as her. "What do you want?" she asked him sullenly.

He sighed deeply, seeming…sad, almost. "I didn't realize you were thinking of your parents," Ed admitted softly. "That was stupid of me. I'm sorry I yelled at you—I was just…really worried, and I guess I'm not always the best at showing it, huh?" He paused like he was waiting for a reply, but she didn't think she had anything to say to him yet. So after a moment, he went on anyway. "And you're right, I was treating you like a kid. I'm sorry for that too. You aren't a kid any more than Al and I are. I'm just so used to people not understanding what it's like…that I just…lost my head." He touched her shoulder lightly. "You did the right thing. The _dangerous_ thing, yeah, maybe a bit stupid, but… It was still the right thing to do."

"You think so?" she asked quietly, finally finding it in herself to look at him. "I didn't even think about it… I just ran in. It didn't matter if I thought I could do it or not."

Ed grinned faintly. "You're just as reckless as me." He twisted his mouth into a grimace then. "What you said back there…about being a state alchemist that shirks the system and actually helps people instead of walking away…"

"I was talking about you," Lissa admitted, twisting her fingers into her shirt nervously. "A-at…Mr. Tucker's house… I remember you getting so, so angry when he thought he'd still be a state alchemist. Because the things he did…that went against everything we thought being a state alchemist was about. But I wondered, ever since that night, if he would've actually had his title taken if he hadn't been…killed. Maybe not. The way these people view state alchemists, maybe there's even more like Tucker, maybe it's _weird_ to be a state alchemist who actually cares about the people…" She suddenly reached out and grabbed both of Ed's hands, gripping down tightly and staring right into his golden eyes. "But that's the kind I want to be. And I thought…that's what you wanted too."

He nodded firmly. "It is. I might be one of the military's dogs, but that doesn't mean I have to fall into line like everybody else does. I don't _want_ to. These people… They acted like having a state alchemist come here was the worst thing ever. I wanna show them differently. Don't you?" Ed got to his feet and pulled Lissa up with him, grinning now, his eyes alight. "I've got a plan, Liss. But I need yours and Al's help to pull it off. Are you with me?"

Lissa laughed and punched his flesh arm, making him wince just a bit. "Are you kidding? I was _waiting_ for you to get your act together, dummy. What do you have in mind?"

He slung his arm over her shoulders and smirked. "Oh, just a little forbidden alchemy… And a little double-crossing while we're at it. With a sprinkle of deceit."

"Sounds _perfect_."

It didn't take long to explain the plan—or to set it in motion. Lissa and Alphonse kept guard while Ed did the dirty work, expressing that it was his own plan and he wouldn't involve them that far in it, and then it was a simple matter of transmuting a few wheelbarrows from the scrap around the railyard to cart their bounty up the hill to Yoki's mansion.

Lissa couldn't hide her grin as they arranged everything, her heart just so alight with the _good_ behind the plan. "See, _this_ is the state alchemist I signed on to apprentice with," she told Ed teasingly, tugging at his braid. "Not the idiot who treats me like a kid. I mean, I _am_ taller than you."

"Wha— _hey_ , you are not!" he protested, gaping at her.

Al peered at them thoughtfully. "Actually, brother…she _is_ taller than you. By a few inches at least."

Ed wilted right there, dropping to his knees and whining something incoherent.

Lissa nudged him with her foot. "C'mon, dummy, get up. I hear Yoki coming. Is everything set up?"

He popped right back up and nodded. "It's all in place. Let's do this." Ed pushed through the next set of doors and waved his hand at Yoki, who looked up from his lunch in surprise. "Hello again, Lieutenant," Ed greeted brightly. "So, last night, I had a great idea for a business proposition. I want you to sell me the mines."

Yoki stood up rather shakily from his table and crossed, his eyes darting around almost like a nervous tic. "Eh…excuse me?"

Edward crossed his arms and grinned. "I _said_ , I would like you to sell me the deed to the coal mines. And all the businesses, surrounding trade routes, the town, et cetera." He jerked a thumb behind him, pointing out the piles and piles of gleaming gold bars the three had hauled up before. "I've already got the payment all worked out."

The three soldiers stepped into the room, all various degrees of shocked and awed. They'd probably never seen so much gold in their lives.

"Unless this isn't enough?" Ed prompted.

Yoki rounded on him. "Don't—don't be absurd, this is—quite satisfactory, indeed! Is it…is it all _real_ gold?" he confirmed, sounding like he might drool at any moment.

Ed scoffed. "Of course. What kinda second-rate alchemist do you take me for, Lieutenant? See, as it turns out, the mine is actually full of all kinds of minerals that would be _very_ useful in my alchemical research. I'd hate to miss out on the opportunity. But…if this place isn't actually on the market…"

The Lieutenant let out a nervous sort of twitter-laugh. "Oh, now let's not be so hasty… Of _course_ it's for sale, Mr. Elric."

Lissa smiled benignly. "Actually, the proper rank would be _Major_ , the same as all state alchemists." That was just for fun—Ed never went by a military rank.

Yoki squeaked and bobbed his head urgently. "Yes, of course, my apologies, Major Elric!" He cast another longing look over at the gold bars. "Though—it may look a bit… _unseemly_ , selling the mine for my own personal gain… It was entrusted to me by the state, after all."

"Right," Ed laughed. "Well, and transmuting gold is pretty seriously illegal, after all… I'm happy to keep this all off the books, if you'd like. You can just officially write in that this was all transferred over free of charge. The gold is just…an unrelated gift, then. That way, no one will ask any questions. And I'll be sure to put in a good word for you too, when we return to Central."

"W-well, if you're quite sure…" Yoki's eyes gleamed—then he snapped his fingers at one of his guards. "I'll write up the papers straightaway."

Ed inclined his head. "Thank you very much for your business, First Lieutenant Yoki."

The whole transaction took only a few minutes—Yoki had the papers written up, Edward signed them, and then tucked them away inside his coat for safekeeping. Then, just before turning to go, he snapped his fingers and turned back to Yoki. "Oh, First Lieutenant, we left some bags out by the back door you can use to store the gold. I transmuted them myself. They'll keep it nice and safe."

Yoki nodded eagerly. "Yes, of course. How very thoughtful of you, sir." He grinned, a slimy sort of thing that made Lissa's skin crawl. "Goodbye, then."

"Goodbye!"

When Yoki and his guards were gone, Ed turned and shut the doors to the antechamber immediately. "Right," he murmured. Then he clapped his hands, and quickly transmuted all the gold back into rocks. A handful of gold coins—Yoki's bribe from earlier—clattered to the ground, which he swept up and tossed to Lissa for safekeeping.

She tucked them into her backpack and smirked. "Let's go. Before the idiot realizes we duped him."

They hurried from the mansion and back into town, searching out their next target—Halling and the other miners. With Halling's inn gone, the coal miners had congregated in a nearby basement, which the three found only by listening for angry yelling.

"Be careful," Lissa warned Ed as he approached the door. "They'll still be angry."

He just winked at her and burst through the door. " _Hello_ , everyone!" Ed greeted brightly, waving. "Don't you all seem gloomy, huh? Let's see if I can't help with that." He strolled right in, Lissa and Al following, as though he owned the place.

Though…he kind of did, actually.

"What are you doing here?" Halling demanded sharply.

Khayal glared across at them too. "You leech! What do you want from us?"

Ed just grinned and wagged a finger at him. "Come on, is that any way to talk to your new landlord, boss, and all-around overseer?"

One of the other miners shot to his feet at that. "Overseer?! What the hell are you talking about, you dumb kid?"

Ed just withdrew the papers he'd been given by Yoki and brandished them at the man.

"What… It _can't_ be! This is…the titles to _everything_!" the miner breathed, taking a step back in shock.

"Yup! That's right." Ed turned to display the papers to the rest of the room. "The deeds, titles, management, ownership, et cetera et cetera, to everything here in Youswell. Including the surrounding trade routes." He smirked at Halling. "See the signature? It says _Edward Elric_. And last time I checked, that meant me."

There was a sort of collective shocked-angry gasp, and Lissa grinned to herself, leaning against the doorway. "It's gonna be pretty _boring_ being stuck here, isn't it, Ed?"

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," he agreed. "We're very busy, you see, and we spend most of our time traveling from place to place… So being tied down all the way out here just…doesn't suit our lifestyle, if you understand me. Owning all this would just be a nuisance."

Halling rose from his table and glared at him, not catching on just yet. "So you're saying you want to sell this back to us, then," he growled. "For a profit."

Ed smirked. "You know it. And the price is pretty steep, too. After all… I don't get deeds to whole towns very often, so I gotta get what I can from you folks." His smirk turned into more of a devious sort of grin as he mimicked Halling's words from the night before. "That's just business, I'm afraid."

"Is that so?" Halling asked rather darkly, crossing his arms. "How much?"

"Hm, well… Considering the nature of the deeds themselves… I mean, this is _vellum_ embossed in gold, that alone is worth… And it comes stored in a box carved in jade, with silver embellishments and even a solid silver key, too… Now, I'm no expert at valuing items, but if you ask me, all this is worth…" Edward beamed at him. "One night's stay at your inn, plus meals. I mean, that alone was valued at two hundred thousand. Sound about right to you?"

The miners stared at him in shock. "Did he just say-"

"I think so!"

"-but then that would mean-"

Halling took a step towards Ed, still looking unsure. "But our inn was destroyed. We have nowhere to put you."

"Oh, is that all?" Ed laughed. "Well, as your current landlord, I guess it's sort of my job to fix this place up, don't you think? It's a good thing I have two other alchemists here to give me a hand." He looked between Lissa and Al expectantly. "What do you say? Think we can handle the job, between the three of us?"

Al nodded easily. "Of course. It'll be easy."

With the miners following in shock, the three trooped outside and set themselves at three points around the burned-down inn. Before taking all the gold up to Yoki, they'd snuck back in and placed tons of raw materials in the ruins of the inn, taken from scraps out in the railyard. Between their three skillsets, they'd found more than enough to put the building right again, and maybe even better, judging by what they had.

Lissa sketched her transmutation circle by hand, using a stick to scratch it through the dirt. They'd already discussed this earlier—her part of the transmutation was deconstructing and removing anything that couldn't be used. The boys were in charge of most of the reconstruction, working around hers.

It was…like nothing she'd ever done before. Lissa had never used alchemy this way, as a _team_ , in conjunction with other people. The lessons she'd gone through had never suggested it. But she guessed Edward and Alphonse had been doing this kind of thing for years, working together like this… They wouldn't even know it was unusual. And if it had been their own thing before…then letting her be part of it was a really, really big deal and she hadn't even realized until then.

When they were finished, and the inn was put together again, Lissa found herself struggling not to cry. She'd never felt so much a _part_ of anything as she did working a transmutation with Ed and Al.

"Liss?" Ed stepped around the corner and smiled at her softly. "You okay?"

She nodded quickly. "Yeah, 'course I am."

They joined Al at the front of the rebuilt inn and went inside to see Halling and his family staring around themselves in shock, along with what looked like most of the town, to be honest. Lissa stood close to the boys and waited for the reactions she _knew_ were coming.

"That was _amazing_!" Khayal gushed, running over to them. "Thank you so much!"

Ed waved him off. "Nah, that's just alchemy. No big deal." He looked over at Halling and grinned, reaching into his cloak and pulling out the set of papers from Yoki. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot. Here." He passed them over into the man's hand easily. "I signed it over and everything, so it's official. Congratulations on your purchase!"

Lissa smirked down at Khayal. "Still think all state alchemists are terrible?"

The boy winced and rubbed at the back of his head. "Well…I guess not _all_ of them are completely terrible…"

"Wh-what's going on here?!"

Lissa turned, smirking, as Yoki and his guards raced in through the door of the establishment. This was gonna be good.

"Oh!" Edward turned and flashed a grin at him. "Hello, First Lieutenant. Funny you should stop by—I just sold the deed to all of Youswell to this man here, Mr. Halling. You two know each other, right?"

Yoki looked ready to argue that—but then he grumbled to himself and snapped, "Never mind that! What about _this_?" He jammed a hand into his pocket angrily, and withdrew a handful of rocks and coal, which he shoved almost all the way under Edward's nose in his rage. "All the gold bars you gave me turned into _stone_! Why did this happen? Explain yourself!"

Ed looked at him in exaggerated confusion. "Gold bars? I don't know anything about gold bars, sorry."

The Lieutenant let out an undignified screech. "You little _liar_! Don't play dumb with me, boy! We traded the deeds to Youswell for a mountain of gold bars! It happened just now, up in my mansion! This is fraud, I tell you!"

"Fraud? But…" Ed smiled up at Halling. "Can I see that top sheet for a moment?"

Halling smirked. "Sure thing."

Ed took the sheet and held it out for Yoki to check himself. "See? Right there, it says that ownership was handed over free of charge. Sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about, Lieutenant." He passed the paper back and shrugged faintly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I can't help you, besides. I already signed over ownership."

"Why you little…" Yoki snapped his fingers, and one of his guards grabbed Ed by the front of his shirt and hauled him off his feet.

Al took a single, menacing step towards him. "Put my brother down. _Now_."

Even as the guard obeyed and shifted back in fear, Yoki still tried to regain control of the situation. "No! This transaction is invalid! I won't allow this! You're a _child_ , and a mere child cannot possibly be a landowner!"

"But he isn't," Lissa pointed out innocently.

One of the bigger miners in the room caught her drift and grinned, standing up and ramming one fist into his opposite palm. "Yeah. _We_ are." He stepped forward and loomed over Yoki and his guards threateningly. "This is private property now, Yoki."

"S-silence!" Yoki stuttered, looking around in a sort of panic as he realized he was outnumbered. "If you don't want to get hurt, then hurry up and h-"

"I wouldn't underestimate the strength of coal miners, Lieutenant," Halling spoke up. As he got to his feet, most of the other miners in the room did so too, some wielding pickaxes and shovels, others just cracking knuckles and brandishing their own bare hands. Lissa didn't envy Yoki and his men—she'd be _terrified_ to be on the other end of all that aggression, even as an alchemist.

Ed moved back and stood between Lissa and Alphonse, grinning as the coal miners moved in. "Oh, and one more thing, First Lieutenant… I'll be sure to inform my superiors of your _incompetence_ running this town."

Lissa laughed and tugged on the sleeve of Ed's coat. "Come on. I'm hungry, we haven't gotten to eat since yesterday. Let's see if Mr. Halling can clear us a space while the others deal with Yoki." She realized as she grabbed his hand that she'd gotten the automail, but she didn't mind—she just tugged him along behind her, and took Al's hand too, not wanting to get caught up in the well-deserved punishment being enacted behind them.

By the end of the evening, Lissa was _stuffed_. In celebration of their newfound control, the miners had broken out all the food they could find—within reason—and because the miners still assumed Al needed a portion, she and Ed had shared the excess between them. Now she felt like she couldn't even get up from the table.

The bar had long since emptied out. Even Halling and his family had gone to bed, leaving a room key with Lissa and locking up the front, giving the three a little privacy downstairs. She smiled to herself and peered around the table, at where Ed had settled onto the floor a bit ago, when he thought the table had gotten too messy for eating. He was passed out down there, his left hand resting on his exposed tummy, sleeping with his head resting on what looked like a loaf of bread.

"Dummy," she giggled to herself.

Al stepped back into the room and surveyed the damage. He'd been kind enough to take some of the trash out, though Halling had assured them not to worry about anything. "Oh, man," he muttered. "This place is a mess. And look at brother, sleeping like that…" He sighed. "He's so embarrassing."

Lissa grinned at him. "You sound like the older brother, Al."

He laughed and nodded, not bothering to deny it. "Sometimes I _feel_ like the older brother. Even though Ed's always looking after people, he forgets to look after himself most of the time… Like last night, when he made sure we'd have a place to stay. I mean, I'm just a suit of armor and I can't sleep anyway, I would've been fine. But he put himself out instead. He hates to let anybody else suffer, but he'd probably forget to feed himself most days if we didn't look out for him."

She got up from the table and crossed to Ed, lifting his hand and tugging his shirt down for him. "I worry about him, Alphonse. I'm afraid if he had to do any of this alone…"

"But he doesn't." Al rested a hand on her shoulder and looked down at her, and she got the feeling he was smiling. "He's got us, right? And we won't let brother have to handle things by himself, will we?"

Lissa beamed up at him in return. "You're right. We won't."


	7. Emissary of Lies

It takes a little for a new story to gain traction, and I absolutely am aware of that - but I'll still encourage anybody who's interested so far to please let me know what you think! Also double-update just because the next chapter is a bit shorter, so enjoy!

* * *

 _Three Years Later_

"I did tell you to bring more water."

"You don't have to be so mean about it, Liss. Just— _share_!"

"No way! I carried this all the way from freaking Central and you want me to _share_? What do I get in return, then?"

Alphonse sighed and inserted himself between the two. "I thought you were supposed to be friends," he chided, looking between Lissa and Edward in turn. "But you've been fighting ever since we got to Liore. What's wrong?"

Ed turned his nose up. "Liss won't share her water."

" _Because_ , dummy, you didn't bring enough and I only have enough for me. And we're _here_ , we'll just find someplace to get drinks. We might need it later if there's an emergency." Lissa rolled her eyes and tugged his braid, making him wince and swat her hand away. "If we don't find anywhere to sit down soon, I'll share. Okay? Promise."

He patted his hair back down and grinned at her. "You're _so_ soft for me, Cadet Caito."

"Call me that again and I'll cut all your hair off," she warned him. " _Or_ I'll transmute your hair pink again. Remember that? I still have the photo, too. I could always send it to Mustang."

Ed grabbed her by the coat and tugged frantically. "You wouldn't dare."

Lissa smirked. "Try me, Fullmetal."

"Fine, fine," he relented. He released her—only to sling an arm around her shoulders in his usual fashion. They'd both gotten taller over the past few years, she noted, but she was _still_ taller than him by a few inches. Lissa thought doing this made him feel like he was the taller one.

"We should head for the center of town anyway," Al pointed out. "It's a good place to find out a little more information."

Lissa wrapped her arm around Ed's waist and nodded. "Yeah, we might actually hear something more about this Father Cornello guy. All we know so far is that he's a priest who performs _miracles_ , whatever the hell that means."

"You're always so skeptical," Ed complained, bumping her hip with his own as they walked.

"I just don't trust the idea of finding a Philosopher's Stone in the hands of some random guy," Lissa explained. Not that she hadn't explained it before. "It'll be somebody important, somehow. I just know it. Besides, don't you think I'd sense it?"

He smirked at her. "What would a Philosopher's Stone even _smell_ like?"

"It's not smells! It's _feelings_ ," she corrected, hating the whiny tone to her voice. Almost two years ago now she'd finally come clean about the weird feelings she got, senses from things happening around her. They'd been a bit doubtful until she'd sensed that the very kind landlord of an inn they stopped at was actually an alchemist scheming to use Ed as ransom against the military. That changed their minds _very_ quickly.

Ed laughed at her indignation, but didn't push the issue anyway. "I know, sorry, Liss. Anyway, if you feel anything that might _remotely_ be the stone, tell us, okay?"

"You know I will."

They found a shop just a little further into the city—a sort of outward-facing bar, with a few people milling around, and a radio playing some kind of sermon resting atop the awning. With nowhere else in sight—and Ed pretty much desperate—they stopped there and ordered a little food and some juice. Lissa knew her friend _hated_ milk. She didn't even bother trying now.

All through their meal, the shopkeep kept giving them strange looks—until finally he jammed his hands on his hips and asked, "So what are you guys? Like…street performers or something?"

Ed gave him a disparaging look. "Seriously? Do we _look_ like street performers to you?"

The man shrugged. "Well, yeah. S'why I asked after all."

"We're not street performers," Lissa clarified, more amused than offended. Ed took poorly to those kinds of comments—he thought it was a joke about his height. Sometimes it was. But it was difficult _not_ to be, when he was the shortest of their group.

"C'mon, let's go," Ed muttered, hopping down off his stool. Lissa followed, giving a wave to the shopkeep as she got up since he hadn't really done any harm—just in time to avoid the radio crashing down at her feet, from Al standing up and bumping the awning. It landed hard on the stone street and shattered instantly, cutting off the religious broadcast.

"Hey, easy!" the shopkeep protested. "I didn't mean nothin' by it!"

Ed lifted a hand quickly. "Sorry, just an accident! We'll fix it."

"Fix it?" the old man scoffed, crossing his arms. "And just how are you gonna do that? It's smashed all to hell!"

Lissa tossed Al a piece of chalk helpfully. "Just watch," she told him brightly. He was better at fixing things, after all. Thankfully Al knew that, so he didn't question her—he just knelt and drew a transmutation circle around the shattered remains of the radio, held his hands out… And in seconds, the radio was as good as new again.

"There, see? How's that?" Ed asked, grinning and pointing down at the radio.

The crowd they'd gathered was murmuring in astonishment, all sort of doe-eyed and in shock. Lissa wondered why. It was just a little simple alchemy.

"Amazing! It's a miracle! You've been touched by the Sun God, haven't you? Just like Father Cornello!" the shopkeep exclaimed. And _there_ it was. Lissa looked up at him in surprise. The Sun God? Who the hell was the Sun God?

Ed wrinkled his nose, looking kind of grossed-out. "Touched by _who_ now?"

"It's not a miracle," Al explained gently. "Just a little simple alchemy, that's all. Nothing special."

One of the onlookers tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Oh, so you're _alchemists_. Yeah, I've heard of them."

A sort of prideful look came over Ed's face, and Lissa resisted the urge to groan. _Here we go…_ "Then maybe you've heard of us. We're the Elric Brothers! And this is Lissa Caito, she's my trainee. We're sort of famous, actually."

"Does he have to do that _every_ time?" Lissa asked Al under her breath.

The shopkeep looked thoughtful. "The Elric Brothers?"

"Oh, yeah, I do know that name," the same onlooker mused, nodding as he realized it.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric!" another chimed in. "Is that right? Wow, so you're the young prodigy they tell all those stories about?"

Lissa laughed and patted Ed's shoulder as the bystanders crowded around Al instead, peppering him with questions and calling him the Fullmetal Alchemist. It was always the armor, she mused, as Edward wilted and glared at the crowd. "Not again," he lamented. "C'mon, why do they _never_ hear about my cloak, huh? I thought it was pretty recognizable."

"Is that why you wear it?" she asked him, smirking. "I thought you just felt like it was stylish or something."

"Well, that too," he muttered. "But still."

While Al tried to remedy the confusion, Lissa regarded Edward with a thoughtful little smile. He hadn't changed too much since she'd gotten close with him, she thought, which wasn't a bad thing. His temper had cooled just a touch—and so had hers, thankfully—but they still bickered all the time. At this point it was just a facet of their relationship, the silly petty fights they could halt in an instant and pretend had never even happened. Ed and Al were her family now, after so long together. They didn't keep secrets, worked as a team, shared rooms and floors and were scarcely separate. Over the past three years, Lissa couldn't think of twenty-four hours all at once she'd been apart from the boys. And she _loved_ it, every single second. It felt like having a family again.

"Who's little?! COME HERE AND SAY IT TO MY FACE I DARE YOU!"

Lissa tuned back in just as Edward was going straight for the people who had inadvertently hit his most sensitive spot. "Ed, calm down," she sighed, grabbing his arm before he could launch his attack. While he struggled halfheartedly against her grasp, she looked to the shopkeep and asked him, "So what's with the guy on the radio, sermonizing like that?"

"Oh, you don't know?" he wondered. "That's Father Cornello, our leader."

Ed froze, dangling from Lissa's hand and looking at the shopkeep curiously. "Wait, _that's_ Cornello?"

"Yeah! We were completely lost until he came to town, and started teaching us all about the ways of the Sun God Leto," one guy told them earnestly. "He grants eternal life to the souls of the faithful."

"And he can even resurrect the dead!" another supplied. "His miracles prove that what he says is true!"

Edward freed himself from Lissa's grasp and crossed his arms, looking both skeptical and intrigued at the same time. "So this guy's claiming he can bring the dead back to life? Tch." He tossed his head. "Now that's something I gotta see."

They left the little square behind, the people still chattering on about Cornello and this weird Sun God Leto. It felt slimy, somehow, especially since Lissa didn't believe for one second this guy was performing miracles. Alchemists were scientists too, and that meant living in the realms of reality, of what was _really_ possible and what wasn't. Miracles just weren't scientific. _Besides… If the dead could be brought back to life, Ed and Al would have their mother._

"Do you feel anything here, Lissa?" Al asked as they headed to the church, drawing her out of her thoughts. "I mean…y'know…"

Lissa closed her eyes for a moment, absently latching onto his armor so she wouldn't fall. "Not much… The people here have a lot of faith, I think that's what it is… It feels like…a room filled with incense, too heavy to breathe through… Faith without much substance." She stumbled as her foot caught on a bit of uneven pavement, but Al caught her easily, one arm across her stomach. "Oops," she mumbled. "Thanks, Al."

He set her upright and shook his head. "No problem."

"Either way, we need to check this out," Ed asserted. "Whether he's performing miracles or not, something doesn't feel right."

She smirked. "What, something doesn't feel right in a town where the dead can be brought back to life? Now, Ed, you're just reaching, aren't you?"

He grinned and ruffled her hair. "Totally. C'mon, the church is just up here."

Lissa grabbed onto the hem of his sleeve as he jogged ahead, a bit anxious at the crowd she was beginning to see gathered outside the church. Over time, she'd come to realize she wasn't very good with big crowds—even though she'd effectively grown up in Central, too many people in one place at a single time just…made her skin crawl.

"Here, we'll just stay at the back," Al told her gently, catching Ed's shoulder before he could duck into the crowd.

"But I can't see," Ed muttered.

Lissa grinned and stood on her tip-toes. She could just see over the shoulder of the person in front of her, if she stayed on her toes, but there was no way Ed could see with the few inches she had on him. "You could always stand on your suitcase," she pointed out wryly.

He glared—but did as she suggested anyway. Seeing was more important. "Okay, let's see what this old guy really has up his sleeve."

At the foot of the church, an older man with either a shaven or bald head stood grinning at the masses beneath his feet. He had white robes on, a supposed symbol of purity, but it just seemed like a farce to Lissa. A mockery of what robes like that _should_ stand for. All around him, pink flower petals flowed as if from nowhere—though she had no doubt the blossoms were drifting from some unseen basket high up in the church.

Father Cornello waved and the crowd cheered like he was a celebrity. He lifted a hand and caught one of the flowers midair—then he closed his hands around it and shut his eyes.

There was a flash of red light. Lissa's chest tightened as she felt a sudden burst of _something_ , too quick for her to catch it, and when she focused again there were two enormous red crystal flowers on the podium with Cornello.

"That was something," she whispered, looking at Ed urgently. "I felt that, all the way from back here."

He met her gaze, looking very intense for a moment. "Well? What do we think?"

"There's nothing _to_ think," Al replied firmly. "That was alchemy, no doubt about it."

Lissa turned away from the spectacle as Edward jumped down from his suitcase to join them. "Only one problem, though," she pointed out, stuffing her hands into her trouser pockets. "What's his equivalent exchange?"

Ed nodded grimly. "Exactly. He's completely ignoring the Law of Equivalent Exchange. He should've only been able to transmute that flower into something of equivalent mass."

"Not to mention he changed organic matter to inorganic matter." Al looked between them, on the exact same path. "Which should be impossible. Unless…"

"Yeah," Ed agreed softly. "There's just one way. _Bingo._ "

Lissa stared down at the church unhappily, mostly concerned with the mass of humans between them and the entrance. "Once this dies down, we'll have to go check it out. I don't think we want to risk questioning this guy with his whole flock of sheep around."

Ed groaned and shook his head. "No way. We'll let them disperse before we try and get close."

—

Within the next hour, the crowd had gone back to their daily lives, leaving the three room to head down to the church. By then Cornello had vanished, whisked off somewhere deep into the building by a couple of his underlings, but the front door was unlocked and the chapel was open, so they walked straight inside.

"It'd be pretty if it weren't so creepy," Lissa observed, looking around the candlelit room. "No electricity. Nice and rustic."

Ed scoffed. "I bet he's got the rest of the place wired up. Guy like that needs his creature comforts." He strode down the center aisle and stared at the altar from a safe distance, clearly looking for some sign of a place to hide a Philosopher's Stone or evidence it had been there, but the whole setup looked pretty legitimate.

As they approached, a young brunette woman who had been on her knees praying at the altar stood and smiled warmly. "Welcome," she greeted. "Are you interested in learning about Letoism? You're the tourists, right? The newcomers?"

"Nah, sorry. We're not exactly the religious type," Ed dismissed offhandedly.

The woman looked disappointed. "No? I'm so sorry to hear that… To know God is to know hope, love, purpose… If we believe in His divine grace, then all things are possible." She fixed that docile, obedient smile on her face and added, "If you believed, then I'm sure Leto would bless you and make you grow taller."

 _Oh, crap._

Edward visibly bristled at the comment. "What's that supposed to mean?!" he demanded harshly.

Al grabbed his arm and held him back. "Easy, brother. She's just trying to help."

Tugging free, Ed sank down into the front pew and crossed one leg over the other, giving off a casual air Lissa knew was a bit of a front. She hadn't seen him like this in a long time, not since the mercenary down south they'd thought had a Philosopher's Stone over a year ago—he turned _so_ desperate it scared her, when they got a lead like this. And here, in Liore, was the first time they'd actually seen somebody bypassing the laws of alchemy. Ed's determination was dangerous, for himself as well as for her and Alphonse.

"Well, what about bringing the dead back to life?" he asked of the girl. "Do you believe that's possible too?"

The girl bowed her head and smiled. "Yes."

Ed sighed deeply and reached into his pocket, bringing out the small coded notebook he carried everywhere with him. Lissa still hadn't been able to decipher it, even when he let her have it for a full day. It just looked like a travelogue to her, but she knew it had more in it, especially with how intent he got about it sometimes.

"Water: thirty-five liters. Carbon: twenty kilograms. Ammonia: four liters. Lime: one-point-five kilograms. Phosphorus: eight hundred grams. Salt: two hundred and fifty grams. Saltpeter: one hundred grams. Sulfur: eighty grams. Fluorine: seven-point-five grams. Iron: five grams. Silicon: three grams. And trace amounts of fifteen other elements." Ed snapped the book shut, ignoring the young woman's confusion. "That list represents the complete chemical makeup of the human body for the average adult. It's been calculated to the last microgram. But there has still never been a reported case of an alchemist successfully creating a human life." He looked up at her sharply. "And you're telling me something modern science can't do; you can do with _prayer_?"

Lissa stood beside Al uncertainly, not entirely happy with Ed's handling of this. She would call herself agnostic—and he'd name himself atheist—but usually they agreed on the bigger ideas. Not this. He was _very_ sensitive to the ideals of religion and the way most religions completely ignored science and scientific theories.

The young woman glared at him, incensed then by him talking down to her. "Lift thy voice to God! And the prayers of the faithful shall be answered!"

Ed grinned and linked his hands behind his head, almost amused now. "Oh, and did I mention, all those ingredients I read off… Down at the market, a kid could by every one of them with the spare change in his pocket. As it turns out, humans are pretty cheap to make."

"No, that's blasphemy!" the brunette cried, eyes wide in shock. "We are all children of God, created in his image!"

Lissa crossed her arms. "Created in God's image or not, you can't deny that our chemical makeup is pretty basic," she pointed out. "We're mostly water and carbon. There's nothing special or unique about our bodies."

Edward nodded his assent, even though the girl continued to look scandalized. "You have to understand; us alchemists are scientists. We don't believe in unprovable concepts like creators or gods. We observe the physical laws that govern this universe, and try to learn the truth. It's ironic, really. Through the application of science, we have in many ways been given the power to play as gods ourselves."

 _Oh, that's going to go over really well._ Lissa wondered if she could burn a hole in the back of Edward's head if she glared hard enough. It might be worth trying.

"So you would put yourself on the same level as God?" the young woman demanded. "But that's just—sheer arrogance!"

He didn't bother denying it. "You know, there's an old myth… About a hero who flew on wings made of wax… He thought he could touch the sun. But when he got too close, his wings melted, and he came crashing back down to earth. Isn't that right, Al?"

"Brother…" Al warned, clearly worried about Ed saying too much.

But Ed had already moved on from the moment. He hopped up from the pew and flashed a winning smile at the woman. "I'm sorry, miss. This is difficult for me to ask, but… Do you think your Father Cornello could save arrogant scientists like us? We'd be very interested in hearing what he has to say."

The brunette looked like he'd made her entire life in a single moment. "Of course! That's wonderful, to be so open-minded… I'm sure if anyone can lead you to the creator's light, he can! Please, come with me. I'll see if he can speak with you."

She led them through a side door of the chapel, and Lissa took a moment as they exited to hold the door and pause, sensing the air currents around them. It was different back here—a stronger current flowed from somewhere, with hints of…was that animal fur? She resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose. What was animal fur doing back here? Lissa stretched her fingers, adjusting the reddish-pink fingerless gloves she now wore everywhere to hide her transmutation circles. After a while, drawing them had been too much of an effort, so she'd simply had them inked onto the backs of her hands, several to each hand. People asked too many questions if she showed the tattoos, though.

"Something's weird back here," she whispered to Ed and Al as they walked. "Keep your guard up. I don't like this."

"So what are your names?" the young woman asked cheerily.

"Oh, we're the Elric brothers, and this is Lissa. She's our friend and research assistant." Ed stuffed his hands into his pockets, probably to smother the sound of his automail moving. He was usually pretty conscious not to show it too easily.

The girl smiled back at them. "My name's Rose." She looked at Lissa and Ed curiously, singling them out for some reason. "You two seem very young to be traveling alone… And are you not…a bit uncomfortable, being the only girl, Miss Lissa? It seems like that could get very lonely and—and scary, too."

"We aren't _that_ young," Ed muttered.

Lissa just grinned. "These two are basically my family at this point. I can't imagine being anywhere else. Besides, I trust them with my life, I know they'd never hurt me. We've all been together…what, three years now?"

"That's sweet, to have something like that," Rose told her honestly. The girl switched emotions so fast, it was hard to keep track. "I'm glad."

"What about you, Rose?" Al asked curiously. "Do you have any family here in Liore?"

Rose's face fell. "Oh, I… N-no, I don't. Not anymore, at least."

Al winced immediately, seeming ashamed of himself. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea. I didn't mean to pry like that."

"It's all right," she told him, shaking her head. "I found my God, and that's enough for me."

Lissa exchanged a pointed look with Ed that told her they were thinking the same exact thing—there was no way a girl who'd lost her whole family thought her God was _enough_ , not when she was so close with a priest who claimed to be able to bring the dead back to life. That sounded an awful lot like somebody with a really serious motivation for performing human transmutation.

Rose had them wait in a sort of antechamber for a few minutes, while she went off to talk to someone and put in their request for an audience. They didn't dare speak their minds, but Lissa knew the boys well enough to see how wary they were. And there was that dark, almost hungry look in Ed's eye that she just didn't like at all. Searching for the stone absorbed his entire being sometimes, and though she and Al tried, he could get lost in it with alarming ease.

Soon enough, though, a man in dark robes walked back in, Rose at his heels. "So you must be the Elrics, and their young research assistant. Welcome." He inclined his head. "I am Brother Cray. This way, please."

Brother Cray led them through a few hallways, down the stairs, and finally to a large set of double doors set into the wall. "Father Cornello is a busy man," he told them, as he pushed one of the doors open to allow them through, "as you can imagine. But you're in luck. He's decided to spare a moment for you."

Ed grinned and followed him right inside. "Yeah, thanks. We understand. We won't take too much of his time, don't worry."

"Good. Then it's agreed." Brother Cray strode further into the chamber, and Lissa noticed for the first time that they weren't alone—indeed, several armed guards had peeled off their posts to come and join the little group. So it was a setup. "We'll make this quick."

The doors slammed shut behind them. A pair of disciples stabbed spears into the ground right in front of Edward and Lissa, holding them back, while Cray himself withdrew a pistol from inside his robes and aimed it straight at Al's head. Lissa stopped immediately, and glanced sideways at Ed, seeing his gaze fixated on Al. If this asshole of a fraud so much as _touched_ Alphonse…he'd be in for one hell of a surprise.

Rose jolted to a stop, looking around herself in fear and confusion. "Brother Cray, what is this?" she gasped. "What do you think you're doing?"

Cray eyed her. "Rose, these heathens have come to ensnare and discredit the Father. They're evil, emissaries of sin and lies. This is God's will!"

 _Evil,_ Lissa thought derisively. _He has no idea._

The girl took a step back, pressing both hands to her chest. "Brother Cray…"

Ed's eyes darted side to side for a moment, assessing—then he looked at Lissa and inclined his head, ever so slightly. She understood immediately. "Well, like you said. Let's make this quick!"

Lissa reacted as Edward did, reaching her fingers into the air around her and slamming a wall of compressed air behind her as she ducked, dodging the spears that had been blocking her and sending her two guards flying into the far wall. Beside her, Ed was dealing with his own, a more hands-on approach but no less effective. At the same time, Al simply rammed his fist into Cray's face, knocking the man flat on his back, his pistol skidding away.

One of the guards picked himself up and made as if to run away, but Ed was on him in a heartbeat, tossing one of the fallen spears and tripping him with it. "Oh yeah!" he cheered, grinning. "Strike!"

Lissa laughed and set her hands on her hips. "Nice shot."

"What's this commotion?"

 _Oh, this can't be good._

Lissa turned, grimacing, to see Father Cornello himself had stepped out onto a sort of observation deck above them with stairs leading down to their level, smiling benignly and looking for all the world like a cat that caught a mouse.

 _Ed would kill me for that one, wouldn't he?_

"Ah, the Fullmetal Alchemist!" Cornello called down, with that stupid grin still plastered on his face. "Welcome to the home of our sacred order." Lissa noted he'd changed robes—these were black, a more fitting color, she felt.

Rose looked up at him with those doe-eyes again. "Father Cornello!"

As if he still had control, Cornello spread his arms wide and told them, "I must apologize for my disciples' behavior. It would seem they've been…misguided in their actions."

Ed scoffed at him. "Okay. Let's say I believe you weren't the one guiding them. What next?"

"Ah." Cornello's smile turned almost…predatory. "So have you come to learn the ways of Leto, child?"

"Well, there's a few things I'm curious about," Ed told him sharply. "Like how you've been using second-rate alchemy to deceive your followers."

But the priest didn't give in. "My dear boy, I don't know what you mean. What your doubting eyes see as alchemy are in fact the miracles of the Sun God Leto." He pressed his hands together, and immediately red energy shot out from within his grasp, the very air humming with that same energy, the same _feeling_ Lissa had gotten outside the church. And when he pulled his hands apart, a foot-tall statute of Leto himself materialized from what seemed like thin air.

 _The stone! It feels like…copper and iron…heavy on my shoulders, like sludge…like…like blood… But why would it feel so terrible? But it definitely is alchemy… I'd know that feeling anywhere, like static all across my skin._

"Look again," Cornello insisted, holding the statue aloft. "Could mere _alchemy_ create something out of nothing in this way?"

Ed glanced sideways at Lissa for confirmation, and she nodded once. At least he trusted her judgement and the strange things she could sense.

"Yeah, that's what I didn't get at first. How you can perform transmutations that ignore the Law of Equivalent Exchange." Edward rubbed at his head, mussing his hair as he considered the far-reaching possibilities of what was going on here.

Cornello slammed the statue down on the railing before him. "As I said, because it _isn't_ alchemy!"

"But then I started thinking about it," Ed continued, like he'd never spoken. "If you'd somehow managed to acquire a certain object to amplify your alchemy… One that is said to make the impossible possible… That would explain _everything_."

That made Cornello's eyebrows furrow, his posture changing. "What…how could you…"

"I'm talking about the Philosopher's Stone!" Ed called up sharply. "Your ring. That's it, isn't it?" He began to slowly walk forward, approaching Cornello like he might take it by force. Lissa knew he would, undoubtedly, Edward would rip it right off his finger if he got the chance. "I've been looking for that."

"The ring is just a ring," Cornello dismissed, though there was a faint tremor in his voice. "I am God's humble servant." And that beatific smile was back in place. Damn. He thought he was in control. "It is from He alone that I derive my power."

But Ed was stalking forward now, grinning, his quarry in sight. "Still tryin' to sell that line, huh?" he drawled. "All right, if that's the way you wanna play it, I guess I'll have to come up there and beat some truth out of you!"

Lissa sighed and rolled her shoulders. So it was going to be a fight. Well… It always was, with Ed. She really should be used to it by now.

"My, you really are quite the incorrigible heathen, aren't you," Cornello observed irritably. He cast his gaze around for a moment—then alighted on Rose and focused on her immediately. "Rose, dear."

The woman looked up at him uncertainly. "Yes, Father?"

"That gun there beside you. Pick it up," he ordered.

Still too trusting, Rose agreed, "Oh… Okay…" and picked the gun up, holding it in an unpracticed grip, her fingers over the trigger guard.

"Now, child… I want you to shoot the Fullmetal Alchemist."

Lissa recoiled, looking to the boys in surprise. Involving an innocent—if deluded—girl was _not_ in the plan. She gritted her teeth and sank back onto her right foot, just a minute shift of her weight as she prepared to move. If this girl _did_ try to shoot Ed, Lissa had his back. She wouldn't let anything happen to him. She'd made a promise, after all.

Rose looked horrified. "No, I—Father, I can't do that!" she gasped.

Cornello smiled down at her. "I am the Sun God's chosen emissary. _My_ word is the word of Leto himself! Shoot him, Rose. It is God's will."

Lissa swallowed past a dry throat as Rose, trembling all over, lifted the gun and put her finger behind the trigger guard, though she didn't aim it yet. Like a wet blanket all over her shoulders, Lissa could feel her fear, ocean-thick salt clogging up the air. That young woman… Did she have it in her to pull the trigger, under all that fear?

"Why hesitate?" Cornello asked loudly, seeing the same thing. "When you lost your fiancé to that tragic accident last year…who was it that saved you from the very depths of despair? Have you forgotten?"

So _that_ really was why she believed so strongly. Loss. Loss brought out the worst in people.

Shivering hard, nearly sobbing now, Rose whispered, "I-it was you, Father…"

Cornello grinned then, his benign façade dropping entirely. He looked unsettlingly pleased with himself, too much for comfort. "That's right. It was I who took your hand and led you into God's light. And do you recall what it was I promised you then?"

"You said if I had faith, you'd bring him back to life!" Rose sobbed, nearly losing her grip on the gun. For a moment, Lissa hoped she might actually drop it completely, which would give her a chance to act. But then Rose caught it, tightened her fingers around the handle—and raised it in both hands to point straight at Alphonse.

Al flinched and held up both hands. "No, wait!" he yelped. "It's not me, honest!"

Raging now, Ed stomped his foot into the ground and waved his hands at her. "Dammit! I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist! It's _me_ , not him! Why does everybody always think it's _him_?!"

Even Cornell recoiled. "It's the short one?!" Then he shook his head fiercely and pointed down at Edward. "No matter. Shoot _him_ then, Rose! Your God commands it!"

Rose, trembling all over, shifted her aim and pointed the gun at Edward instead. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "but I have to do this. I don't have any choice."

"Yes, you do!" Lissa told her fiercely. "He's been _lying_ to you, Rose, Father Cornello is a fraud. He can't do what you're asking, no matter what he says!" She would've said more, but Rose clicked the hammer back on the gun and Lissa caught herself, falling silent for fear of setting her off.

"You're wrong!" the girl shouted back. "I've seen his miracles! Father Cornello _will_ bring him back to life. I have faith!"

Ed was glaring at her now, apparently unafraid in the face of that gun pointed at his head. "Fine. Then shoot!" he challenged her.

"Ed, no-" Lissa tried.

But Rose reared back, gasped in a shuddering breath—and fired.

Al cried out, more in shock than anything else, as the round impacted on his helmet and knocked it clean off his body.

"Al!" Ed went to check on him, anxious for his wellbeing, but Lissa was distracted by something else. She lunged and caught Al's helmet before it rolled away, snagging it by the ribbon at the top. Almost out of reflex, she dusted it off once she had it off the ground, always trying to look after the boys. Nearby, Rose was screaming like she'd killed him, horrorstruck by what she'd done, and Lissa just ignored her. _Good. Let her realize how stupid she's being._

"Good," Cornello told her, ignoring the girl's anguish. "God Leto is pleased. You have done well, my child. Now, pick the gun back up and shoot the others as well."

"Haven't you made her do enough already?" Al swung up to a sitting position with a heave of his legs, startling both Rose and Cornello, who couldn't know that a gunshot to the head just wouldn't kill him.

Rose stared at him like she'd seen a ghost. "B-but… Your head! I thought you were…"

As the boys got to their feet, Lissa rejoined them with Al's helmet safely under one arm. "I wouldn't worry about it," she told the other girl with a shrug.

Ed nodded. "Yeah, he's pretty solid." He emphasized his point by giving a couple taps to Al's chest, which echoed hollowly.

"Yeah, see?" Al bent down to show the empty interior of his armor. "No harm done."

Lissa ignored the girl's revulsion and passed Al his helmet back, standing on her toes to flick his little ribbon-hair over his shoulder so it wouldn't get tangled on his shoulder-spikes. She'd long since passed any lingering strange feelings about Al's predicament.

"An empty suit of armor that walks and speaks?!" Cornello seized the moment immediately. "Do you still doubt it, Rose? This unholy thing is an abomination! Evil of this kind must be purged!" As he yelled the stupid, offensive word down, he backed away from the edge of his vantage point, nearly out of sight—but the three could see clearly when he grabbed a handle protruding from the wall behind him and yanked it down, hard.

A door at the far end of the chamber slid up. With the clicking of claws on stone, a creature with glowing red eyes emerged—a lion at the head and forelegs, with the hind legs and tail of something more avian or reptilian. All over it was covered with transmutation marks, a clear sign of its origins, which meant it had to be…

"And I believe my chimera should be up to the task!"

Lissa recoiled in shock. A chimera. Just like…like Mr. Tucker's experiments, all those years ago. Like _Nina_ , but without the human component—just an animal made to attack.

"So this is the sort of thing a man like you does with the Philosopher's Stone. That's just twisted," Ed snarled, regarding the chimera with something like pain in his eyes. So he was thinking of the same thing too. But he shook it off quicker than Lissa could, turning and staring up at Cornello for a moment, considering it. "Looks like I'll need a weapon."

In a motion that was nothing but familiar now, Ed clapped his hands together and pressed them to the stone floor. Blue light flickered, sparking from where his hands touched down—and as he got to his feet again, a long spear pulled free of the stone and rose right into his outstretched left hand.

Cornello jerked back in surprise. "No transmutation circle! So the state alchemist title isn't just for show. You truly _are_ gifted. However…"

The chimera lunged, and Ed danced back, dodging a second too late to avoid the thing swiping its claws through his spear. The weapon shattered, and he looked down in surprise as his trouser leg shredded too. Lissa didn't think he'd been expecting the thing to be so _fast_.

"…your little spear is no match for chimera claws that tear through iron!"

But Ed just grinned up at him. "Hah! You shredded my pants. Lissa's gonna kill me for ruining another pair."

"You're damn right I am," Lissa grumbled.

The chimera staggered back, lifting a front paw in apparent shock as its claws shattered clear off. Ed didn't waste any time. He thrust upward with his left leg—his _automail_ leg—and kicked the creature back harshly. "But I guess those claws don't do so good against steel!" he shouted as the chimera landed.

"Bite him, you stupid beast!" Cornello screamed, spit flying from his mouth in his rage.

The chimera came at Ed again, but this time he was ready. He brought his right arm up to catch the thing, letting it bite down on his forearm and holding it back with a snarl on his face. "You like that, kitty?" he hissed. "Go on, get a good taste!"

He swung his right leg up this time and caught the chimera under its jaw, knocking it back yet again.

But the chimera hadn't let go before he kicked it. As it was jerked away, its teeth raked clean through his cloak, ripping the fabric away to reveal the automail he'd been hiding still.

"Your arm," Cornello breathed. "A brother trapped in armor…" A fierce grin overtook his face. "I see. It's all becoming clear now… You did it, didn't you? The one thing even the most novice alchemist knows is strictly forbidden!"

Ed fisted his hand into the red cloak and yanked it off, pulling it aside in one fluid motion. "Why don't you come down here and try me?" he challenged. "I'll show you real quick who the novice is!"

Cornello wasn't interested in a fight, though. He still had a different target. "Rose… This is the price of their sin," he intoned, grasping the root of the issue without worrying about any of the details around it. "These fools attempted human transmutation. The greatest taboo for any alchemist! In their arrogance, they tried to bring someone dead back to life!"

Rose was staring at Edward in shock, at his automail, with so much revulsion it made Lissa feel sick just to see it. "Oh no…"

"This is what happens when you try to play God, or whatever you want to call it," Ed told her lowly, drowning in self-hatred. To Lissa it felt rough, soul-sick, like the whole world shifted for a moment to feel the depth of his self-loathing. "Take a good look, Rose. Is this what you want? Is this the price you're willing to pay?"

"So this is the great Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. Not even half a man—hell, not even half a _boy_!" Cornello laughed.

Lissa felt an air current whip around her as her anger coalesced. "Shut up!" she snarled. "And what the hell do you know, huh? Parading around like a god with your damned Philosopher's Stone! If this is the best you can do even _with_ the stone, you're a bigger fraud than we thought!"

"And what about _you_ , little girl? Running around with these heathens like you belong?" he asked of her, smirking. "How deluded you are."

Ed took a menacing step forward. "Leave her out of this!"

"Father, we just want you to hand over the stone before you get hurt," Al cut in, his voice far more even and calm than anyone else's.

"Don't be absurd!" Cornello snapped. "Why? So you can use it for _yourself_?! Please. If you fools are so eager to play god, then perhaps I should send you to meet him instead!" He lifted his cane and swung the lower end into his hand, his Philosopher's Stone lighting up as he transmuted the simple cane into an enormous fucking _machine gun_. With a wild grin, he raised it and began to fire.

Lissa shot her hands out to the side and compressed a burst of air, knocking her own body sideways just as Ed raised a shield from the stone floor, managing to land in a crouch at his feet just as the goddamned rain of bullets reached them. She caught herself on his automail, wrapping her arm around his lower leg and sharing a brief grimace with him. "So, he's gonna be like that, huh?" she grumbled, as Ed pulled her to her feet beside him. "Fun."

"Never say we don't take you anywhere exciting," he muttered, flashing a roguish grin her way.

The firing stopped, and as the dust cleared, Ed called up, "Nah, I don't think so. Me and God…we don't get along too well. Even if I went, he'd probably just send me right back here."

There was a click, and Cornello began firing again—not at Ed and Lissa but at _Rose_. Al acted quickly enough, though, racing forward and grabbing her up before she could get hit. He ran fearlessly through the barrage, though Lissa knew he could technically be harmed by those bullets.

"We need an exit!" she told Ed fiercely.

He nodded. "Right. This way! Liss, we could use some cover!"

"On it!" Lissa pressed her back to the wall he'd created and summoned up all the tiny dust particles she could find, stretching out with the air currents brushing over her exposed fingertips—then she drew it all together in one thick cloud of dust, sparking blue right between them and Father Cornello.

At the same time, Ed darted to the nearest wall and pressed his hands to it, creating a brand-new doorway out.

Lissa ducked away from her cover and sprinted after him, bursting out through the door with Ed and Al, who was still carrying Rose for her own protection. The disciples they startled with their sudden exit didn't move, too stunned by the sudden appearance of a _giant damned door_ , not to mention the suit of armor and two teenagers that came through, giving them enough time to put some distance between them and Cornello before he caught up.

At the end of the hall, a handful of disciples waited, all various degrees of armed. One of them smirked as he leveled a staff over his shoulder. "That's far enough," he ordered.

Another disciple, this one holding a small pistol, laughed and asked, "What are you gonna do, kids? You're unarmed and outnumbered."

"Look, just come quietly, okay?" a third one asked. He sounded amused too. "We don't wanna have to rough you little kids up too bad."

Lissa smirked at Ed as they kept running. "You got this?"

"Oh yeah." He grinned, brought his hands together—and transmuted his automail arm into an enormous, fearsome curved blade.

She spun aside with a burst of air, Al using the same gust to shift out of the way too, while Ed raced forward to deal with the others. They were _so_ unprepared for him—and his wrath at being called a _little_ kid. These idiots never stood a chance.

Around the next bend, they encountered another group, which Al simply barreled through. Lissa spun around, running backwards for a moment, and sent a huge gust of compressed air down the hall behind them. "Gotta clean up our own messes, right?" she laughed, spinning back around and chasing after the boys. Fighting petty adversaries like those disciples could almost be fun, sometimes, as long as they had the upper hand. Besides…being labeled a _kid_ had its advantages.

"So, you do have a plan, right?" Lissa clarified, as they emerged into an alley behind the church, just shy of sunset.

Ed turned to her and smirked. "How'd you know I have a plan?"

"You have that look in your eye," she told him, shrugging. "Like you're going to do something devious and you're enjoying yourself, maybe too much."

"Well, you're not wrong." He squinted up at the church's façade thoughtfully. "I hope you're ready for a fight, though. I doubt this guy is gonna just roll over and take what's coming to him. And he's got that stone, too."

Lissa rolled her eyes. "He's still not very powerful, even with the stone he's all stupid tricks, smoke and mirrors."

"Exactly. But he'll fight to keep his control anyway, you know?" Ed sighed and leaned into the building behind him. "We have to unseat this asshole. And I've got a plan, yeah, but it's not gonna be pretty."

"We're with you, brother," Al told him firmly.

Ed smiled just a bit, one corner of his lips quirking up. "Thanks, Al." He stretched his arms over his head and nodded. "Okay. Here's what we're gonna do."


	8. Hope Against Failure

Part two of the double-update! Getting through Liore here - and I'll be stitching it back together with Brotherhood very soon. Any commentary on my manipulation of the timelines? I know it's unorthodox but I had some events in my head I really badly wanted to apply, so it required me to adjust things a little. How has that been flowing for you guys? Let me know what you think, and enjoy!

* * *

"Right, I double-checked the connection. I can feel the electricity flowing out, so if Al's gotten ahold of the bell, then we're all good." Lissa dusted her hands off and leaned into Cornello's desk beside Ed, closing her eyes for a moment. She couldn't trace the feeling of electricity very far past the window, her range was pretty limited, but it was enough to be able to sense the pathway the connection took. "You know, I probably don't tell you enough how much it means to me that you and Al don't think I'm completely crazy. Or too weird to keep around."

Edward bumped her shoulder with his own. "Too weird to keep around? Nah, no way, Liss. I mean, at first I guess it was a little strange, adjusting to the whole thing, but at this point…" He grinned at her. "It's just helpful. And we care way too much about you to dump you off somewhere."

She poked two fingers into his side, making him scrunch his face up. "Well, at least I'm not _only_ useful."

"Oh, shut it."

Sighing, she tugged at the edge of his ruined tank top, watching a faint blush creep over his cheeks as she shifted closer to him. In the past year or so, she'd noticed him acting weird about physical proximity sometimes, but she'd tried not to pay too much attention. "Ugh, this is going to take a little extra material to fix," she mused. "And your cloak…don't even get me _started_ on your cloak."

He winced and hunched his shoulders up. "You'll help me fix it though, right?"

"Do I ever say no to you?" she teased, giving a little tug to the antenna of hair sticking up from his head.

"No, but you do mess with me," he snickered as he batted her hand away.

"Just because it's easy."

He went to snap some reply, but she pressed a hand into his chest to stop him. Lissa's whole body tensed up as a sensation rolled across the back of her neck—that same thick iron-copper deluge of _wrong_ that she'd felt from Cornello's ring before. "He's coming," she murmured.

Ed looked up at her sharply. "You can feel it?"

"I feel his ring. Ask me when we're _not_ enacting the final stages of your plan, yeah?"

"Good point."

Footsteps pounded down the hall—and Father Cornello himself skidded into view, stomping into the office angrily. "There you are, you infernal brats!" he snapped.

Edward rolled his eyes. "Look, can we just cut the crap and talk here? All we want are some straight answers about the stone. Tell us what we need to know, and we'll be on our way."

"Or we could always get the military involved, if you'd prefer," Lissa added with a smirk.

Cornello knew immediately they had him—he had to be an idiot not to notice Alphonse was missing, so he'd assume they had a way to contact the military if this conversation went poorly. Still, it was nice to see he wasn't _that_ observant. He'd completely missed the newly-transmuted microphone sitting at his feet. So Ed had been right. This guy really was just an amateur.

He let out a strangled cry, agitated, but finally he nodded and shut the door behind him. "Fine. Ask your questions."

Ed sat forward and eyed him. "You could do anything you want with the Philosopher's Stone, right? So why waste all that power performing your stupid phony _miracles_? What's the point of that exactly?"

It was almost too slimy to handle when Cornello _grinned_ at the question. "Because with each miracle, I can attract new believers to the order—believers who would lay down their lives for my sake! I'm slowly building an army! A legion of holy warriors, unafraid to die! And in a few more years, I'll be ready to unleash my mindless horde upon the world!" He laughed and took a step forward, as though he were trying to menace them into submission. "I'll use the Philosopher's Stone to tear this country apart! Who knows? I might even carve out a slice for _you_ , if you're obedient enough!"

Lissa glanced sideways at Edward as Cornello began to laugh—she broke first, and Ed followed, both dissolving into peals of laughter. It was just so _ridiculous_. The man thought he was a full-blown super-villain or something!

"Wait, what are you two laughing about?" Cornello asked, cutting off his own laughter.

Ed grinned crookedly at him. "I knew it. You really are a novice, aren't you?" And with that, he held up the big, obvious _on-off_ switch he'd had sitting beside him the entire time.

Lissa snickered to herself as Cornello began to put the pieces together, looking between the microphone, the switch in Ed's hand, and the wires stretching across the room and out the window. It was like he could see his whole world crumbling down around him, knocked into pieces by a couple of teenagers. Just beautiful.

"Y-you don't mean that… Why you… _How long_? How long has that been on?!" Cornello demanded.

"From the start," Ed told him smugly. "Your _believers_ heard every word."

Lissa giggled and pressed a hand to her mouth. "Thanks for the great performance, _Father_. We couldn't have said it better ourselves."

"How could you?" he snarled, brandishing his cane at them. "You'll pay dearly for this!" Cornello's Philosopher's Stone ring shone with red light as he transmuted his cane—but Ed was faster, leaping off the desk and transmuting his automail on the fly. He slashed clean through Cornello's new weapon before the fraud ever got a chance to use it.

"Sorry, not today!" Ed shouted, taking a step back as half the enormous gun crashed to the floor. "Just face it. You're outclassed here!"

But Cornello wasn't listening. "I am without rival!"

Lissa slipped _through_ the air, feeling it part around her as she moved, quicker than she could without modifying the resistance—and ducked under Cornello's incoming strike to deflect it with her leg, knocking his own transmuted weapon into his face and staggering him backwards.

Before Cornello could right himself, both Lissa and Ed had moved out of reach, Lissa slipping between air currents and Ed pulling off one of his favorite handsprings. She flicked her hair out of her face with a finger, making a mental note to tie it up next time she thought there would be a fight. Ed had the right idea—loose hair in a battle was just annoying.

"I won't allow this!" Cornello roared. He pressed his hand to the transmuted cane again, and red light bloomed from his ring as he aimed it directly at them.

Edward stepped in front of Lissa as Father Cornello's whole form was enveloped in red light—but then the fraud groaned in pain and the light faded, revealing Cornello grasping at his right arm, where the metal had fused horribly with his flesh.

"It's a rebound!" Ed hissed.

"No! I won't be disgraced like this!" Cornello cried, sweat beading along his forehead even as red energy crackled all around him, enveloping him in flares of light. "Now, children, behold—the chosen emissary of the Sun God Leto!"

Before their eyes, Cornello began to grow, rising up as his body shifted sizes, expanding into an enormous, monstrous version of himself.

He swung his rebound-laden fist at them, and Lissa grabbed Ed under his arms, wrapping her arm across his middle and pressing in tight against him. He lifted his automail arm to protect them as she drew air in between them and the wall with a twist of her free hand. The air cushioned the two just enough to keep her from slamming directly into the wall when Cornello's giant fist landed, though they crashed through anyway, tumbling out into the chapel amid the debris.

"This is _so_ not good!" Lissa yelped, as she rolled to her feet and twisted to face the behemoth.

Ed grunted as he leapt out of Cornello's way, narrowly avoiding a fist directly to the face. "You freaking think?!"

She flung herself backwards when Cornello came at them again, feet over her head, and landed just in time to see Ed catch his attack against his automail again. "My word is the divine word of God himself!" the mutated Cornello roared, leering down at them with inhuman, eerie red eyes. Lissa had a split second of what he _felt_ like—steel and wood and blood and _sickness_ —but she was too focused on Ed's plight to really take it in.

Cornello snarled and shoved in against Ed harder, and Lissa dug her feet in and pressed _back_ , forcing everything she could gather up against his strength—but even that wasn't enough. "My fist is the almighty fist of judgment!"

"Oh, yeah? The fist of God, huh?" Ed glanced back at Lissa and caught her gaze, and she nodded. She had his back. "Well if that's what you want…" He shoved once against Cornello's arm and rolled away, springing to his feet and racing towards the statue of Leto standing at the altar nearby, bringing his hands together as he went. "… _then you can have it!_ "

Lissa sank to one knee and brought her hands together, drawing in that same pocket of air and _ramming_ it into Cornello's chest, just to keep him away from Ed. "Do it now!" she yelled.

Ed pressed both palms at the base of the statue. Blue alchemic energy raced upwards, scurrying out Leto's arm—and the hand transmuted, stretching out and curling into a fist bigger than Cornello's body itself. It caught Cornello midair and knocked him across the chapel, finally slamming him into the floor as his body shrank back to its normal size. Whatever he'd done to himself had faded, apparently, judging by the spider-webs of red energy Lissa saw.

"Careful," she tried to warn Ed, even as he strode forward, chasing Cornello down. But it was useless. He was on a damn warpath.

Cornello sobbed as Edward yanked him up by his head and _rammed_ his own head down, breaking the man's nose instantly. "Shut up!" he snarled, shaking him. "Just give me the Philosopher's Stone! _Now_!"

As Lissa watched, the bright red stone in Cornello's ring dulled, the sense of blood and heaviness fading from the air as it rolled free of its setting and fell to the ground. It shattered against the stone, crumbling into tiny, fragile pieces. She knelt down to retrieve them, baffled, but the pieces suddenly disintegrated and drifted away, leaving nothing behind.

"What the hell?" Ed breathed. "The stone… It can't be… It's supposed to be perfect material! How did it just break like that?!"

Cornello flailed his arms in shock. "I—I don't know! I don't know anything about it!" Then, quailing under Ed's fierce glare, he began to beg, "Spare me! Please! I-I was wrong, I beg of you, _please_!"

Ed's face just fell. "It's a damn fake," he whispered, rising to his feet.

Lissa jumped up beside him and touched his shoulder. "Ed…"

Still collapsed on the floor, Cornello grabbed at her trouser leg and begged her, "Please, please don't leave! I'm helpless without the stone! Spare me!"

"You mean, we went through all this…risked our lives just for this one possible chance…and it's a _fake_?" Edward groaned and turned away, pressing both hands over his face in despair. Lissa's heart went out to him—he and Al were convinced they needed the Philosopher's Stone to get their bodies back, after years of research, and this was the first real lead they'd had since beginning their search. And it had led to a _fake_. She hadn't even realized a fake could exist, especially since this one had felt so particular and actually aided Cornello's abilities.

"Hey." She draped her arm across his shoulders and pulled him in tightly. "Come on, let's go find Al and get the hell out of this stupid town. Okay?"

Edward sighed and nodded, tipping his head to lean on her shoulder. "I guess so, yeah."

"So, uh…what about me?" Cornello asked, still lying flat on the floor.

"I don't care what the hell you do!" Ed snarled at him. "Just get out of here!"

Cornello yelped and scrambled away, crawling through the debris frantically just to get the hell away from them.

Lissa tightened her fingers on Ed's automail as she felt him sag against her. "I know it sucks," she told him quietly, "but you can't give up. I mean…look at it this way." She tugged him with her as she headed for the door, glad when he didn't resist. "Why would somebody go to the trouble of creating a fake one if the real one didn't exist somewhere, right? And Cornello obviously believed _his_ was real. If you ask me…all that points to a _real_ Philosopher's Stone existing out there somewhere. We just have to find it."

He cracked a faint smile and wrapped his arm around her waist in return. "I hope you're right, Liss. I really hope so."

"Hey, don't doubt me so much, huh?" she teased, trying to get him to smile more. She hated seeing him get so down on himself. "This was our first big lead, but it won't be the last. You can't let it knock you down so fast, Ed."

"I don't doubt you," he told her honestly. "Never."

They left the church behind and met up with Alphonse at the front, as the sun was just setting beyond the horizon. "Lissa! Brother!" Al called, hurrying up the steps towards them. "You're okay! I saw the explosion, I got worried…"

Ed waved a hand at him passively. "We're fine, Al. Cornello decided to push himself a little too far, his transmutation rebounded and we had to put him in his place. But nothing bad happened."

"That's good, at least. And…" Al hesitated, shifting uncertainly as he asked, "What about the stone?"

"Phony," Ed spat. "Just like him."

"Oh," Al murmured sadly.

Sighing, Ed approached him and tapped his automail on Al's chest sadly. "I'm sorry, Al. For a while there I really thought we had a way to get your body back."

Lissa grabbed both their shoulders and shook them slightly. "Hey, remember what I said? I think seeing a fake stone means there really _has_ to be a Philosopher's Stone out there somewhere. It's just a matter of tracking it down. If a fake can do all that, then surely a real one could get your bodies back, don't you think?"

 _Click._

All three turned at once to look at Rose, who stood at the top of the stairs, trembling, pointing a gun directly at Ed. "Give me the Philosopher's Stone!" she sobbed.

Al lifted a hand towards her. "Rose…don't…"

"Like I was just saying," Edward began sharply, "it was a fake. It wasn't real. Besides, it's shattered now. There's nothing we can do."

"Liar!" she accused. "You want to keep it for yourself, don't you?! So you can use it on your bodies! That's right! I know what you want, I _saw_ you!"

Lissa crossed her arms. "Nobody's lying, Rose. It's the truth."

Rose shook her head fiercely, and swung the gun around to point at Lissa instead. Immediately, Ed flung his arm out and put himself in its path, though Lissa caught his shirt and tried to tug him out of the way. She hated his sense of chivalry sometimes!

"It can't be!" Rose was sobbing in earnest now, her hands shaking. "You _kept_ it! You're selfish, all of you! A-and you'll try to bring your mother back again, too!"

Ed's whole body flinched. " _You shut up!_ " he snarled. But then his expression crumbled, and Lissa felt the cold, heavy blanket of sadness settle on her shoulders. "People don't come back from the dead, Rose. Not ever. _Not ever._ "

Lissa moved to his side as Rose crumpled to the flagstones, the gun clattering out of her hand. "But he _promised_ me," she whispered brokenly, staring down at her own hands as though she didn't recognize them anymore. "He said if I prayed, it would happen… A miracle… That hope was all I had left!"

With a heavy sigh, Ed began walking, Lissa and Al following suit without a word. There was nothing left for them to do here in Liore, Lissa knew. Not as far as the boys were concerned.

"What am I supposed to believe in now?" Rose begged them, as they passed her and began walking down the church steps, tilting her face up to the sky. "Tell me what to do… _please_ … I don't know what to do…"

Ed paused a moment, though he didn't turn to look at her. "I can't tell you that. You have to figure it out for yourself." He shoved his hands into his pockets and continued on, shoulders low, his gaze distant. "Stand up and walk…keep moving forward… You've got two good legs, so use them. You're strong enough to make your own path."

Lissa caught herself glancing down at his exposed automail leg. She'd grown so used to the boys that she hardly thought anything of it—Ed's automail and Al's armor body weren't shocking anymore. It was just…them. But she knew it wasn't like that for everyone.

Every time he was outed as missing two limbs, having full automail replacements for both, Lissa had to watch his self-esteem take a hit. Ed didn't like showing that—he preferred acting like nothing ever bothered him. But she knew better. People like Rose…they weren't used to seeing automail, didn't grow up around the military and see prosthetics every day, so maybe it was natural to be a little surprised. But the disgust… The judgement… Lissa didn't see an excuse for that. Having automail didn't make Edward any _less_ of a person, no matter what some people seemed to think.

She reached up and wrapped her left arm around his right, and tugged him in by the exposed automail, making him look up at her in confusion. But she just smiled and didn't say a word—she didn't really think she needed to for him to understand.

—

Lissa woke up to Ed shaking her frantically, his anxious face only a few inches away, realizing she was covered in cold sweat and trembling just a bit. "Wh-what happened?" she asked. _My mouth is so dry. Why's my mouth so dry? Was I having a nightmare?_

"You were crying in your sleep," Al told her softly, from where he stood behind Ed nervously.

Ed didn't release her shoulders, his fingers digging into her skin almost painfully. But she didn't mind. It was grounding her. "I think you had a nightmare," he explained. "I…I was trying to wake you up, but… Are you okay? It must've been something pretty bad this time."

She averted her gaze as shame burned on her cheeks. Lissa had nightmares from time to time, just like Edward did—but whereas he'd admitted his were about the things he and Al had suffered before, she'd never been able to figure out what exactly hers were about. She didn't have many memories from before her parents were killed, during the Ishvalan Civil War. The doctor she'd seen in Central hypothesized she had mild amnesia, or at least some kind of PTSD from the experiences she'd supposedly had. But Lissa remembered very little of it.

She knew, or rather she'd been _told_ , that her parents were killed by Ishvalan insurrectionists during the war. That's what the soldiers who came for her said. Both her parents were accomplished alchemists, and she knew they had both been asked to become state alchemists several times—but instead they'd focused their efforts elsewhere, and had eventually been roped into the Ishvalan Civil War, to help evacuate people from the southern and eastern cities threatened by the war.

Lissa's nightmares centered mostly around fires, sparkling blue light like her own alchemy usage, and the sickly-sweet smell of blood. Different than the _feeling_ of blood. None of it meant anything to her, but it always left her terrified and feeling so very, very _embarrassed_. Like it was her fault for having nightmares, for not knowing why she had them, which meant she couldn't even do anything to feel better about it. No amount of consoling from the boys had ever really banished that feeling that she was somehow _lesser_ just because of her nightmares.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Ed asked quietly, finally releasing her shoulders and instead resting his hands on her knees, like he was trying to steady her.

She shook her head. "No, I'm okay. Thank you, though." Lissa brushed a lock of damp hair from her face and peered out the window, trying to distract herself from the images still flitting through her head. "How close are we to East City now?"

"Less than half an hour out. We need to report to Mustang first, and then…" Edward and Alphonse shared an uncertain look. "Al and I were thinking… I mean… Nina's gravestone is here."

Lissa clenched her hands on her trouser legs and nodded. The Tuckers had been buried out here in East City, considering this had been their hometown before relocating to Central, and from what Lissa knew a distant cousin or something to that effect had asked for their bodies to be buried here. In the three years since that incident, they'd never gone to visit Nina's gravestone, not once. It had been too painful to even consider.

"It's time," she agreed quietly. "You're right. We should go."

Slowly, like he was afraid to startle her, Edward moved to sit on the bench beside her and tucked one leg under himself, leaving his automail dangling off the edge. Lissa smiled at the position. It was familiar, just sitting with the boys like this, Ed curled at some uncomfortable-looking angle and Al watching over them both, taking a train going… _somewhere_. She sometimes thought she'd spent more time on trains in the past few years than off. The sense of familiarity helped calm her, though, soothing the nightmare from her mind as they approached East City.

The train pulled into the station and all three hopped out, Lissa stretching her back and trailing the boys as they exited the station. "One thing's for sure," she muttered, staring up at the cloudy sky irritably, "I'm not looking forward to seeing Mustang again. It's been nice not seeing his stupid face recently."

Ed turned to look back at her with a grimace. "You can say that again. He's gonna be all snooty because we didn't get the stone again, too."

"Maybe we can try to avoid him for this year's assessment," Lissa suggested.

"Good idea." Ed swung his suitcase over his shoulder and sighed deeply. "We'd better get this over with, I guess. He'll be even worse if we put it off."

Lissa didn't see a way out, so she just nodded her agreement and hurried to catch up. She really didn't want to see Mustang right now, riding in the wake of another failure, but there was no choice—he was Ed's commanding officer, in charge of all their assignments, and he required debriefings after every major event. Liore had been a major event, she knew it, no matter how she might try and twist it around.

They went straight to East HQ and up to Mustang's outer office, where his team was set up, all working diligently. Lissa had no issues with them—his team was much nicer than he was. They came in amid Master Sergeant Kain Fuery complaining about the receiver on his radio not working, prompting Ed to simply wander up and fix it himself with a quick burst of alchemy.

"Huh?" Fuery looked up in surprise. "Oh, hey! Look who's back!"

Riza smiled at them from her spot at the shared desk, seeming genuinely pleased to see them. "Welcome back, you three. The boys didn't give you any trouble, did they, Lissa?"

"No more than usual," Lissa laughed. "And Mustang hasn't run you into the ground yet, Riza? I'm surprised."

The First Lieutenant gave a friendly roll of her eyes. "Speaking of the Colonel, he's expecting you all. In fact, he was expecting you quite a bit earlier… I suppose you got held up in Liore a bit longer than you thought?"

Ed groaned and passed a hand over his face. "Bet he's in a great mood, then. Wish us luck."

Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc smirked and flicked off a two-fingered salute. "Best of luck, chief. Try not to die in there."

"Thanks," Ed grumbled.

Lissa nudged him forward, and he consented to cross the room and push the door open to the inner office. Mustang sat at his desk, handling paperwork as usual, though he deigned to look up as the three trooped inside. "Ah, so you made it back after all. I was beginning to wonder if you'd stay in Liore another night."

Ed rolled his eyes and tossed his report down on Mustang's desk, before sinking onto one of the couches set in front of the desk and crossing his legs. "Obviously we didn't."

"Obviously," Mustang agreed absently, as he thumbed through the report.

Lissa settled opposite Alphonse, meeting his gaze and lifting her eyebrows. She didn't appreciate Mustang's involvement in her life—but she could appreciate the entertainment of his interactions with Ed. Those two were always at each other's throats.

"It's all in there," Edward told him, looking up and scowling faintly. "Including my recommendation that Lissa take her state exams already. _As always._ "

She stuck out her foot and nudged his shoe with her own, smiling at him. Over the past three years, Edward had included that recommendation in every single report he filed, without fail. It meant a lot to her, although he complained wildly that nobody ever listened to him. For Lissa, just the fact that he kept trying was enough, for the time being at least. Besides, she had less than a year left before they _had_ to let her take her exams.

"Yes, I can see that," the Colonel noted. "Well, it looks like you three did a good job in Liore. Nice work. I appreciate you resolving the matter."

Ed rolled his eyes. "No big deal. S'not like we did it for you, anyway."

"Right." Mustang lifted his eyes from the paper. "The Philosopher's Stone. Another false lead, then?"

"Yeah, after all that the stone was a fake. Even so…" Ed clenched his fist tightly. "The power it gave Cornello was real enough. He'd transmuted this huge chimera using its power, and he had the whole city just eating out of his palm… The stone he had allowed him to bypass Equivalent Exchange and transmute organic matter into inorganic matter."

"I see why you thought he had the real thing, then. It's a shame it didn't pan out."

Ed glanced up at Lissa thoughtfully. "Liss pointed something out, though. Just the fact that somebody bothered to manufacture a fake stone, and the power it gave Cornello, means it's that much more likely a real one exists somewhere. Why bother to make such a convincing fake unless you're distracting from the real thing?"

Mustang nodded, apparently agreeing with that, which was a first. He usually liked to disagree if only to play devil's advocate. "That's a good point, actually. Even so… Liore was a dead end. Do you have any leads on where to go next?"

"Not yet," Al told him, shrugging. "But we're thinking about heading back to Central next."

"I see. Well, I don't have any new orders for you just yet, so feel free to go. But watch yourselves," Mustang warned sharply. "Just the other day, someone in Central killed the Iron Blood Alchemist."

Lissa stared at him in shock. "Somebody killed Basque Grand? How?"

His eyes narrowed. "That's still under investigation, so I'm afraid I can't share many details just yet. All we know is that a man with an x-shaped scar on his face was sighted leaving the scene immediately after. I wouldn't worry about him here, but… Still, you three should be careful if you return to Central after this."


	9. The Ultimate Hypocrisy

And here's another chapter, because I'm impatient and there's a LOT of material to get through. I do have some of this written up already - but it's literally in one huge, long document with chapters just denoted, so I have to go in and copy out each chapter... Not the most...efficient way to do it but it flows the most naturally for me. Aaaaaanyway, I hope you enjoy this one! I know I promised long chapters but that comes later - I think one is over 20k words or something ridiculous - so for now, enjoy this quick jaunt into Lissa's mind!

* * *

"Man," Lissa muttered, as she and the boys left East HQ behind and stepped out into the rain. "Someone got the best of the Iron Blood Alchemist. I ran one mission with him, a long time ago… He was _terrifying_. It's hard to imagine someone actually managing to even _surprise_ the guy, let alone hurt him. Apparently he was a major player in the Ishvalan Civil War, from what I heard."

"I wonder why they went after him, though?" Ed tugged his red hood up over his head and hunched his shoulders. Lissa knew weather like this made him ache. "State alchemists haven't been called out to do much of anything since the conflict in Ishval."

The only one not bothered by the rain, Al stepped through a growing puddle in the road without paying any attention to it. "Maybe someone had a grudge against the Brigadier General," he suggested.

"Who knows? But I don't like it. He'd be tough to kill, which says a lot about whoever killed him." Lissa sighed and tipped her head back, letting the rain pelt her face for a moment. "It's useless to go to the cemetery with the weather like this. Maybe we should grab lunch before we head out—we can pick up some flowers in town too."

Drawing his cloak around him tighter, Ed nodded sourly. "Please. I don't like being out in the rain like this, it makes my stumps ache."

Lissa wrinkled her nose at the crude word, but didn't deny him the use. She had no right to dictate that kind of thing.

They stopped in a little café nearby for lunch, drying off by the warm fire in the corner before snagging a table out of the way, on the far end of the building where Al wouldn't feel like he was on display too much. But the rain didn't show any signs of stopping all through lunch, and by the time they'd eaten and paid—and lingered until Ed got too bored to sit there any longer—it still hadn't let up much at all.

"We'll be heading out to Central tomorrow," Edward sighed. "We won't have time to stop by the cemetery before we go… Might as well handle it now, I guess. At least the weather's appropriate."

Lissa frowned at him. "Will you be all right to go?"

Ed rubbed at his shoulder, where the port for his automail sat, and nodded reluctantly. "Yeah. I'll be okay, I've had worse."

They picked up some flowers from a vendor nearby—daisies, which Lissa thought Nina would've liked—and went straight to the cemetery, walking the mostly-deserted streets with a bit of a heaviness to them. Lissa was glad there weren't many people around, at least, because the privacy would be nice. The rain had scared most everyone inside. She was…just dreading this, though. It would make everything seem so _final_. Part of her still thought if she went back to the estate in Central, she'd find Nina and Alexander, alive and well, not…

 _Murdered._

The word felt like ash at the back of her throat. Three years. Three fucking years and nobody had a clue who had killed Nina and Shou Tucker.

Lissa caught Edward's hesitation at the gate to the cemetery, so she stepped past him and pushed it open, taking that burden onto herself for him. She and Alphonse had sworn to each other, back in Youswell so long ago, that they'd look after Edward because he wouldn't do it himself. And she meant it.

"I think it's this way," Ed muttered, turning and leading them off to the right.

A few rows down, sitting unassumingly underneath a tree, was a pair of gravestones. Lissa felt a surge of rage seeing Shou Tucker's right there, beside Nina's, as though he deserved to be so close—as though he wasn't the reason that poor little girl was dead. Al seemed to have the same idea, because he moved to block Tucker's grave when they reached the two headstones, keeping his back to the second one very firmly.

Disregarding the rain, Lissa knelt before Nina's gravestone, brushing her fingertip along the dates. _1906-1911._ She'd been so _young_ , just five years old. "She didn't deserve this," she whispered, placing the flowers beneath the carving.

"No. She didn't." Ed sank to his knees beside her and bowed his head, overcome. "I feel so… _useless_ … It feels like in three whole years we haven't done _anything_ helpful, not one damn thing. What's the point of anything we do, huh? Why are we still even trying when—when none of it seems to matter?"

Al touched his shoulder lightly. "Because, brother… We can't give up… We owe it to ourselves, to mom…and to Nina. We've got to keep trying."

"I just hate this," he rasped. "I hate every damned part of it."

Lissa wiped at her face, unsure if she was wiping away rain or tears. "You don't have to do this alone, Ed," she told him quietly. "You have me and Al, and we're not going anywhere. We're all going to do it together, whatever it takes. I swear." She looked up at Nina's gravestone, feeling heavy all over, and pushed to her feet. "Come on. You'll feel better once we're inside."

He brushed a hand across his face and nodded, standing up and jamming his hands into his pockets. With one last backwards look at Nina's gravestone, Edward turned and walked away. And Lissa followed, Alphonse right behind her, neither willing to let him go alone.

 _It will make a difference,_ she promised herself. _One day all of this is going to be worth something. It just has to be._

Despite Lissa's assertion, they didn't make it far. All the strength seemed to leave Ed before they ever reached their hotel, and he sank down at the base of a statue and dropped his head into his hands, mumbling, "I just… I just need a minute, okay?"

Lissa gently rested her hand atop his damp hair. "Ed… You'll just make yourself feel worse…"

"I just can't get it out of my head," he whispered. "I've been thinking about this for such a long time. We put all our trust in alchemy, but in the end, what even _is_ it? 'Alchemy is the science of understanding the flow of matter and its laws; the process of comprehension, deconstruction, and reconstruction,'" he recited, purely from memory. "'The world flows, too. It must also follow laws. Everything circulates. Even death is a part of that circulation. You must accept the flow.' Our teacher sure drummed that into our heads, didn't she?" With a creak, his fingers tightened on the stone beneath him. "I thought I understood it…but I didn't understand anything, in the end. Mom proves that. Now, here I am again, trying desperately to figure out a way to do the impossible. I'm such a hopeless idiot. All this damn time, and I haven't grown up one bit."

"That's not true," Lissa asserted, crouching and taking his hands in her own. "Just the fact that you can call it impossible means you _have_ grown up. You know better. It's normal to consider all kinds of things, even desperate, maybe horrible things, when you're hurting…" Her throat tightened painfully as she realized she was quoting Major Armstrong, recalling the words he'd spoken to her on her first night in Central. "It doesn't make you a bad person. It just makes you human."

Ed sighed and tilted his head back, closing his eyes against the rain a moment before dropping his head back down. "I'd hoped the rain would make me feel better… But I'm just remembering how annoying it is. How depressing of me."

"I don't even get that much." Al followed his brother's gaze, staring up into the gloomy, grey sky. "Without a body, I can't feel the rain hitting my face. That's something I miss… All the time… I want to get my body back soon, brother. I just want to be human again. Even if it means going against the flow of the world, a-and trying to do the impossible."

Lissa had the strangest feeling come over her—the rasp of sand and burning hot sunlight, tangled up with the metallic tang of blood and the fierce burn of pure _rage_ —moments before a low, gravelly voice spoke up behind her. "You, boy, you're the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric, correct?"

She turned and staggered back a step, shocked that somebody had managed to sneak up on them like this. And who the hell _was_ this guy, anyway, wearing sunglasses in the rain like this? He was nobody Lissa had ever seen before, certainly, not as far as she remembered. As she was opening her mouth to ask his business, she watched him pull his right arm back—and then curl his fingers, in clear preparation for an attack.

And Ed _wasn't moving_!

"Brother!" Al cried, snagging Ed by the shoulders and yanking him out of the man's path just in time.

Lissa leapt into action as well, the air around her sparking with blue transmutation energy as she summoned the ambient gases and compressed them, using that to knock the man back while she raced towards the boys. Midair, Ed came back to himself and clapped his hands together, so the moment he landed on the ground he was able to transmute a hasty wall between them and his attacker. "What the hell is going on here?!" he gasped, sitting in a heap on the wet flagstones.

Suddenly, the wall he'd transmuted _exploded_ outward, and the man strode through the debris towards them.

In the immediate aftermath, none of them moved—until Ed finally shoved to his feet and yelled, "Al, Lissa, let's go! Run for it!"

Lissa turned and sprinted after him, hoping for an escape down the nearest flight of stairs. Maybe they could lose him among the adjacent neighborhood, if they got down there fast enough! She just hoped they made it before-

Halfway down the first set of stairs, the wall above them exploded and their attacker leapt down, dropping to the landing directly in their path. "No you don't," he growled.

They skidded to a halt, Lissa grabbing the back of Ed's cloak to keep him from sliding down towards him. The man's right hand crackled with transmutation energy as he slammed it into the stairs—destroying the bottom half of the staircase in a single gesture. That kind of power…that kind of _destruction_ … Who _was_ he?!

Lissa brought her hands underneath her and cushioned her fall in a burst of blue as the cement crumbled underneath her, hearing Ed cry out in fear above her. When she landed, a bit unsteadily but painlessly, she looked up to see Al had caught Edward by his left ankle and was hanging by one hand off the broken staircase.

The man pressed his hand to the wall and sent energy scurrying up towards the boys. The tenuous hold Al had was broken, and they both plummeted down towards where Lissa stood, one staircase below. She cursed and pressed her hands together, borrowing Ed's familiar pose to tighten her control—but as she pulled the air together to protect them, the force of the blast from above staggered her and she slipped at the last second, dropping to her knees just as Ed landed beside her. Still, their attacker advanced, so Ed pressed his hands to the stairs beneath them and yelled, "Grab on!"

She grabbed him around the middle while Al clung down behind them, and Ed quickly transmuted a sort of pillar jutting out from the wall, trying to just put some distance between them and this man.

But he got that horrible right hand down on the pillar and crumbled it, throwing all three into the street below. Lissa transmuted on the fly, increasing the resistance in the air beneath them as they fell, and managed to land on her feet unsteadily, boots skidding in the slick rain and oil sludge atop the stones. Ed rolled to his feet beside her, and Al landed hard behind her—then Ed grabbed her arm and yanked her forward as they sprinted down the hill, trying to escape the man still chasing them down.

"Damn it!" Ed snarled. "What the hell is this guy's problem?! Making enemies isn't something that I… Well… I never _really_ avoided it, but there's no reason someone should be trying to _kill_ me!"

"Then who _is_ he?" Lissa panted, turning and following the boys as they headed down the next alleyway. "And why's he chasing us like this?! See, I told you not to give out your full name everywhere we go! This is exactly what I was worried about!"

Ed shot her a disbelieving look. "You were worried about crazy murderers tracking us down?!"

"Well—not _exactly_ that, but still!"

Blue energy raced along the wall beside them, and Lissa staggered to a halt, ducking as the explosion filled the alley. When she lifted her head she saw Ed and Al had stopped too, stuck behind the wall of debris suddenly in their path. And behind them…

 _Shit. He's right there! He's so fast, how the hell did he get here so quickly?!_

"Who are you, anyway?" Edward demanded from his knees, staring up at their attacker. "Why are you after us?"

The man eyed them disdainfully. "As long as there are _'creators'_ like you in the world, then there must also be destroyers."

Ed glared at him, finally seeming to find his backbone after all the running. "Then it looks like we're gonna have to fight!" He grabbed a broken pipe from beneath him and transmuted it with a quick clap of his hands, turning it into a blade. Lissa took his cue, along with Al, both rising up beside him and preparing. Al shifted into a fighting stance, while Lissa took hold of the air around them, trying to sense the man's movements as quickly as possible—he was fast, so she'd need to be faster. They all would.

Just as Ed moved forward, running straight for him with Lissa and Alphonse right behind him, the man _smirked_. "Gutsy one, aren't you?"

Lissa's heart sank. She felt him shift, opened her mouth to scream a warning, but it was too late. He slid between Ed and Al, swung his arm back, and clenched it down on Al's armored side.

"…But… Too slow."

She twisted midair and spun back around, air currents whipping around her as she forced them to move her _faster_ , to propel her towards him—but it was too late.

Lissa was flung backwards by the force of the blast, feeling several places on her body light up in agony as shrapnel from Al's armor pierced through her flimsy clothes. She rammed into the wall behind her full-force, and though her vision blacked out, she could still _feel_. Lissa shoved her hands forward, ignoring the flash of white-hot pain in her abdomen, and sent the man flying into the wall opposite.

"You bastard!" Ed roared.

She lifted her head in time to see him come racing back down the alley towards the man, only to be seized by his right arm, the one clutching his transmuted weapon. Ed froze in place, trembling, held aloft by his arm. "Ed, _move_!" she cried out, but it was as though he hadn't heard her at all.

"You're too slow!"

Blue energy crackled along Ed's arm, and he went flying backwards, knocked clear out of the alley end over end. He knocked his cloak off his head and cursed before yanking it off entirely and tossing it aside. Then he got to his feet, his expression clouded and dark, and stared down their attacker as he strode out of the alley. When Ed transmuted his automail into a blade, Lissa felt sick. He was still going to fight. This man had half-destroyed Alphonse and injured her… It wasn't in Edward's nature to leave. He'd rather die trying to get revenge for this.

"Brother, _don't_!" Al begged him. "Just run away!"

Ed shook his head fiercely. "You idiot! I'm not gonna leave you two behind, Al!"

Pausing at the mouth of the alley, the man stared Ed down, almost…contemplative. Lissa could feel the anger simmering off him, rage like fire inside her skull, and…something else, something like what she'd felt in Liore, that deep, stomach-churning tilt that she thought was revulsion. "You press your hands together to make a ring," he mused, "and then you perform transmutation… Now I see."

Lissa staggered to her feet and tried, she _tried_ to move, but her legs failed and she sank to her knees as Ed raced in for an attack. She dared look down—and then wished she hadn't. A piece of Al's armor was sticking out through her shirt, at the center of a wet, sticky bloom of blood.

Swallowing hard and ignoring the pain, Lissa grabbed onto the wall and hauled to her feet, her vision clearing in time to see the man grab Ed by his automail. He pressed both his palms to the metal, and with a sound like a sonic boom, Edward was flung backwards. His automail shattered into pieces, completely destroyed by one single attack.

Ed sat on the street, balanced only by his left arm behind him, staring up at the man in shock and terror, his whole body trembling.

"Now you will not be able to use your heretic's alchemy," the man proclaimed, like it was a damned victory to have _shattered_ Ed's automail. Lissa took a step forward, then another, bypassing Al's attempts to grab her and stop her.

With a weak cry, Ed tried to escape, tried to shove backwards, but he slipped on the wet stones and crashed to the ground, his face pressed into the street.

"I will give you a moment to pray to god," the man intoned as he advanced on him.

"Brother!" Alphonse begged, trying to claw his way out of the alley uselessly. "Run away! _Brother_!"

Ed's hand tightened into a fist. "Unfortunately," he rasped, "there isn't any god I'd like to pray to." Then…his hand loosened, all the energy going out of him at once. "Am I the only one you're trying to kill today? Or are you going after my brother and my friend, too?"

"If they interfere, I will eliminate them," the man confirmed. "But, Fullmetal Alchemist… You are the only one who is receiving judgment today. You alone."

 _No… He can't be thinking… No…_

"Okay. In that case…I want your word." Edward shoved up and fixed a fierce glare on the man, though his body still shook and he was powerless where he lay. "Promise me you won't hurt them!"

Al gasped behind Lissa. "Brother!"

The man ignored him. "I will keep that promise."

"No! Brother, what are you trying to do? What are you thinking? Run!" Lissa heard scraping behind her—Alphonse still trying to reach Ed. But she was the only one still on her feet, the only one who had a chance… No matter how much blood she'd lost or how injured she was, it was only her left now.

"Get up and run!" Al begged, desperate.

He kept pleading as Lissa staggered forward—one step, two, three, her hands flaring blue. She summoned up all her energy, took hold of the air around her, and parted it, slipping past the man just as he reached for Ed. Lissa shot forward and grabbed Edward, flung her body over his and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into her chest with all the strength she had left. She felt something brush the back of her jacket—the man's hand, just millimeters away from killing her. But she didn't let go.

 _I promised, I promised I'd protect you, I can't let you go like this…_

Lissa buried her face in Edward's hair and waited for the end.

 _BANG!_

" _That's enough!_ "

Lissa jerked her head up, stunned to see Colonel Mustang standing only a handful of feet away, aiming a pistol into the air, backed up by not just his team but a few other soldiers too, all aiming various weapons directly at the man.

"You won't be killing anybody today, Scar," Mustang told him sharply. "I'm taking you into custody—where you will answer for the murders of at least _ten_ state alchemists."

 _Scar?_

Lissa recalled Mustang's warning from earlier that same day. About the suspect in the murder of the Iron Blood Alchemist… His distinguishing feature was…an x-shaped scar on his face. So was _this_ the man? This was the serial killer? What was he doing here in East City?!

Slowly, Scar stepped away from her and Edward, fixating his gaze on Mustang instead. "Alchemists alter things from their natural form, perverting them to something else. Something grotesque. They profane God, the true creator of all things." His voice was so sure, so confident… It made Lissa's skin crawl. "As an agent of God… I am here to hand down His judgement. If you interfere, I will eliminate you as well."

But Mustang just smirked at him. "Oh, is that right?" he challenged. He immediately handed his pistol off to Riza and strode away. "You guys stay out of it."

Riza's eyes went wide. "Colonel Mustang, sir!"

Lissa squinted through the rain, still keeping her arms tight around Ed. She wasn't going to let him go until she _knew_ he was safe—and right now, Scar was still standing right above them. At any moment he could fix his attention on them again and…

 _No. I won't let him!_

Scar grasped onto that little fact immediately. "Colonel Mustang," he repeated thoughtfully. "So this is the Flame Alchemist. Volunteering yourself to receive judgement. This is truly an auspicious day!" He stepped over Ed and Lissa and took off towards Mustang and the soldiers, sounding almost… _pleased_ , like he'd been handed Mustang on a silver platter.

But Mustang just kept on walking towards him. "So, you know who I am and you still want to challenge me? Bad decision!"

Lissa's sluggish mind caught up with the situation at had just as Riza reached him and knocked Mustang's feet out from under him, just narrowly skirting Scar's outstretched hand. The rain! The fucking rain would've soaked his ignition gloves! The idiot couldn't use his flames! What the hell was he thinking?!

Thankfully, Riza was on it. She fired both pistols in her grip, forcing Scar to retreat and duck behind the nearest wall, while Mustang demanded to know why she'd done that to him. Irate, Riza snapped back, "You know as well as I do, you're useless on rainy days! Please stay back!"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Havoc mused. "It's kinda hard to get a spark going when it's raining, huh?"

Scar stepped back into view, clearly ready to continue the attack. Lissa still felt too close for comfort, too afraid to move, so she just ducked her head and pressed Ed into the street, holding her ground. She wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't pass out if she tried to go anywhere, if she did anything but kneel right where she was.

"It is fortunate that you can't create your blasphemous flames, state alchemist," Scar almost sneered, as he readied himself for another attack. "For I will destroy all who interfere with my mission, right here and now!"

"I'd like to see you try it!" a familiar voice thundered.

Lissa looked up in shock, her heart racing. Was that… But what was he doing in East City?!

She drew Edward in even closer, letting out a harsh sigh of relief as Major Alex Armstrong slammed his fist down into the street, forcing Scar to jump out of his way or else be crushed by the attack.

"You have to be quick to avoid my fist," Alex observed, returning upright and regarding Scar like his prey. "Not bad… Not bad at all. You said you were going to destroy us all, didn't you? In that case, why don't you start by defeating me?! We'll see how you fare against the Strong Arm Alchemist, Alex Louis Armstrong!"

Someone put their hands on Lissa and she flinched, pulling Ed tighter against her and then wincing when it put pressure on her wound.

"Easy, easy, Lissa, it's just me."

She turned to see Havoc, face tight with anxiety as he lifted both her and Ed off the ground. "Havoc," she breathed. Lissa wanted to let go—but her joints felt locked in place, her muscles refusing to cooperate. She noticed absently she was trembling, shaking all over like a leaf, her body threatening to give out right there…but still she couldn't let go.

"Who is he?" Edward asked, staring across the street at the man now locked in combat with Alex.

Havoc sighed roughly. "That's the same man who murdered Brigadier General Grand. And…" He gritted his teeth. "We have reason to believe he's the one who murdered Mr. Tucker and his daughter, a few years back."

"It's _him_?" Ed breathed, looking at Lissa in shock.

Then his eyes opened even wider as he looked down, spotting the blood soaking through her shirt. "Liss, you're hurt… What the… What happened to you? That looks _bad_ , you need a hospital right now…"

She shook her head at him. "I'm not leaving you."

"Major, watch what you're doing!" Havoc chastised irritably. "We don't want to destroy the city, do we?!"

"What do you mean?!" Alex shot back loudly. Even in the middle of a fight he felt the need to set Havoc straight. "Destruction and creation are but two sides of the same coin! You must destroy to create! That is the law of the universe!"

Lissa took some kind of comfort in the fact that Alex hadn't changed one bit—he still ripped clear out of his shirts when he got passionate about something.

"Non-alchemists may fail to see the inherent truth of that statement…" Alex fixed a knowing look onto his adversary. "But we understand, don't we, Scar?"

Mustang took a step back in surprise. "So this killer is an alchemist, too?"

Ed jerked his head up from staring at Lissa's wound, instead looking across at Scar in a sudden burst of understanding. "That's it! That's how he's doing it," he realized. "The stages of the transmutation process are analysis, deconstruction, and reconstruction. This guy just must stop at the deconstruction phase."

Havoc glanced down at him anxiously. "But if Scar is an alchemist as well… Doesn't that mean he's strayed from whatever his _ways of God_ are, too?"

"The ultimate hypocrisy," Lissa murmured. "Using something he calls blasphemous for his own ends, as if he's got some big religious justification for doing exactly the thing he hates so much. I _hate_ religious fanatics."

"But what would be his reasons for only targeting alchemists with state certification?" Mustang wondered aloud.

Lissa stared at the ongoing fight, trying to piece it together. But her mind just wasn't _there_ , she wasn't coming up with anything—her vision was blurred at the edges, just breathing felt like a monumental effort… She wasn't even certain how she was conscious anymore. Was it just pure adrenaline at this point?

 _This hypocrite… Using alchemy against state alchemists while calling them blasphemers… And all this right after Liore. What is it about religion that brings out the worst in people?_

Finally, Alex corralled Scar into a wall, yelling, "I have you cornered, Scar!" in clear triumph. But Lissa had seen him fighting plenty—there was something…odd about the way he was moving, dragging his swings much too wide, in direct opposition to what he'd taught her. Tight swings, keeping your arms in towards your body, especially in such close quarters. He swore that was the only way to keep yourself safe. So why was he…

Scar lunged, bringing that deadly right arm hurtling towards his target—but Alex danced backwards, lighter on his feet than his size would suggest, and moved aside to leave a clear path, almost an escape route but not quite.

Gunfire rang out. Lissa realized much too late this fight had only been in place to buy Riza time to set herself up with her rifle, and do what she did best.

"You get him?" Mustang asked her quickly.

Riza's mouth thinned. "He's too fast. I only grazed him with one shot." The sheer fact that _Riza Hawkeye_ had been unable to land a more serious hit shook Lissa to her core. She couldn't recall anybody ever being quite so untouchable before.

Scar lifted his head, blood trickling from a small, glancing wound on his forehead, glaring up at them with vibrant red eyes.

 _Blood…sand and burning hot sunlight… All that anger and rage, and the unfamiliar feel of him… So this is why…_ Lissa felt Ed stiffen beside her, the two realizing it at the same moment as everyone else. For Scar's red eyes and deeper skin tone could mean only one thing.

Scar was Ishvalan.

Murmurs rippled through the amassed soldiers. An Ishvalan taking out state alchemists… Then this was a revenge mission, nothing more.

"You might as well give up, Scar," Mustang called out, raising one hand to keep his soldiers from firing. It would take only one small gesture to order them to shoot, she knew. "You're not getting away this time."

But Scar had other plans.

She squinted as a sudden flash of alchemic energy burst upwards, blue sparks dancing all around the Ishvalan—then the ground beneath him _exploded_.

Lissa barely had time to stretch her arm up and hold off the sudden influx of debris and particles rushing towards the soldiers, the air crackling and sparkling with blue energy as she forced the foreign particles back and _away_. She refused to be useless anymore, not after how damned useless she'd been fighting Scar. It wasn't much…but it was all she had.

While the soldiers inspected the giant, gaping hole Scar left in the ground, Ed looked round at Lissa in panic. "Oh no… _Alphonse_ ," he breathed.

Her body unlocked in a heartbeat. Lissa and Ed both stumbled to their feet, and when he staggered, unbalanced, she caught him on his right side and wrapped her arm across his back to help him across the road. But Ed peeled away from her and ran the last few steps himself, sinking to his knees before Al's motionless, slumped body, and grabbed at his chest frantically. "Al! Talk to me! Are you all right?!"

Lissa sank down next to him, trying to assess Al's condition past the ache radiating out from her abdomen. His eyes were still glowing red, so he was _in_ there… He had to be… Right?

"Come on, Al!" Ed begged desperately. "Do you hear me?"

Suddenly, Al's fist swung up and slammed right into the side of Ed's face, knocking him into the opposite wall of the alley. Lissa sank back onto her butt, stunned by his abrupt and _violent_ reaction. Al usually wasn't the violent type.

"Why didn't you run away when I told you to?!" Alphonse demanded, his voice furious. "What kind of idiot are you?"

"No way!" Ed shot back. "I'm not just going to run away and leave you behind!"

"Which is exactly why you're an idiot! And _you_!" Al rounded on Lissa and she flinched back, surprised to be at the receiving end of his ire. "What were you _thinking_ , jumping in the way like that?! You're just as big of an idiot as he is! Both of you are _such idiots_!" He shoved at Ed again, ramming his fist into the same spot as before.

Ed pressed his hand to his face and stared at Al in shock. "What do you keep punching me like that for? If I'd run away, you could've been killed, you know that?!"

But Al didn't back down. "And maybe I wouldn't have been! Making the decision to die is something only an _idiot_ does!"

"Hey, easy on the _idiot_ stuff, I'm still your older brother, got it?!" Ed snapped.

"I'll say it all I want to!" He grabbed the front of Ed's shirt and yanked him in, glowering down at him with his eyes vibrant and somehow threatening. "Survival is the only way, Ed. Live on, learn more about alchemy… You could find a way to get our bodies back and help people like Nina… But you can't do that by dying!" His voice cracked, and Lissa covered her mouth to keep back a sob, but he just pressed on. "I won't allow you to abandon the possibility of hope and choose a meaningless death!"

 _Snap!_

Ed suddenly crashed down beside Lissa as Al's _arm broke off_ , landing uselessly on the ground between them.

"Oh, great!" Al ranted. "And now my arm's come off because my brother's a big, fat _idiot_!"

Edward bowed his head and laughed softly, self-deprecatingly, sitting there in a heap. "We're really falling apart, aren't we, brother?" he whispered. "We look like we belong in a junkyard."

"But we're still alive," Alphonse pointed out quietly.

"We are," Ed agreed.

Lissa blinked back tears, refusing to let them fall, feeling suddenly lost and helpless, like a little child again. She'd seen the boys at their worst, she thought… But this was something different. They felt beaten down, muddied, and it broke her heart to feel the change in them.

"Um, Lissa?"

She looked up at Al curiously. "Huh?"

"Please tell me…that isn't a piece of…of _me_ sticking out of you."

Lissa winced and touched a finger to her blood-soaked tank top, feeling a regretful grin playing around her lips. "Sorry, Al. But I think it is." She sighed and stared at the piece of metal, deciding at once that it couldn't have been as deep as she thought. It was just the shock of being semi-stabbed _and_ thrown into a wall that had done her in.

There was movement at the end of the alley, and Lissa looked up, feeling warm all over as Riza came and draped her military coat around Ed's shoulders. Good. He'd hate having his automail out like that, he always said he felt exposed when it was off.

"It seems you've suffered quite the injury, Lissa."

She looked up and grinned at Alex's huge form looming over them. "It's not as bad as it looks. Plus, I mean, if I'm gonna get impaled with anything, I'd rather it be from Al than anything else. At least I know he's clean."

Ed gave her an anxious look. "Still, you gotta get that looked at, Liss…"

"I would be happy to assist you to the hospital," Alex offered.

Lissa waved a hand though. "No, that's okay. I think we'll need your help getting Alphonse out of here." She looked up as Havoc crossed to them, and lifted her hand to get his attention. "Hey, Havoc… Feel like helping me out?"

He smiled down at her, not making a joke at someone's expense for once. "Sure, Lissa. Hawkeye, you got the chief, right? We'll make a whole parade of it."

One hour and five stitches later, all of Mustang's team, plus Ed, Al, Lissa, Alex, and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes reconvened in Mustang's office. Lissa sat on the floor with her back resting against Al's undamaged side and his arm draped sort of protectively over her, still a bit fuzzy from the anesthetic and the stitches, listening with her eyes closed as the Colonel recapped the Ishvalan Civil War, to get their heads in the right space. She thought she knew the story of the conflict by heart now, having researched it so many times to try and make sense of her parents' deaths. Not everyone had looked into so much detail, though, so she respected the need to make sure the others were fully aware of the significance of Scar being Ishvalan.

The whole time, Ed paced back and forth in agitation, his face screwed up in some kind of rage or frustration or _something_. Lissa just wanted him to sit with her and Al, to take a damned breath and _calm down_ , but he wouldn't do it. Not yet. So she kept her eyes on him instead. He'd gone with her to the hospital, seeing as Alphonse couldn't, and let her squeeze the hell out of his hand while she got her stomach stitched up—so she had yet to actually let him out of her sight since Scar had gone for him. And she had no immediate plans to, either.

 _That's twice, dummy. Twice I've flung myself into someone's warpath for you. I should probably feel like an idiot, just like Al said… But I can't. I only feel like I did the right thing. Does that make me more or less stupid?_

"That man…is an Ishvalan survivor," Mustang finished gravely. "In a sense, his revenge is justified."

Ed rounded on him angrily. "No way!" he snarled. "There's no justification for taking revenge on people who had nothing to do with it! He's just dressing his ugly lust for vengeance in the mantle of his _God_ , and calling himself an agent of justice!"

Mustang didn't argue that point, thankfully. And who would? It was one thing to go after the state alchemists actually _involved_ in the conflict—but Ed had nothing to do with it. How was that fair at all? He hadn't done a damn thing to the Ishvalans. "Still, the fact is, he's coming at us with full force… We can't let ourselves be killed for his cause." His eyes darkened. "Next time there will be no more talk. Got it?"

His team chorused their agreement, not questioning his judgment for a moment. And for once, Lissa was wholly and completely on his side. Mustang was right. This hypocritical freak needed to be taken out.

Turning to look up at Edward, Hughes asked, "Well… Ed, Lissa, Alphonse… What are you three going to do now? What's the plan?"

Ed's eyebrows furrowed. "We're going to keep moving," he began, his voice low and sure, as though the answer was as inherent as breathing. "We can't just sit around, not as long as we're still alive."

Al looked up at him in surprise. "Brother…"

"But…" He grinned at Al, suddenly looking more like himself than he had all day as he rested his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Before we can make any headway on getting your body back, we have to get my arm back to normal. After all, I'm the only one who knows how to bond your soul to the armor.

"Uh-huh. That's true," Al agreed.

Ed sighed deeply and nodded once, a single, decisive movement. "We've got no choice. It's been a long time, but we need to pay a visit to our mechanic." He turned and quirked a grin down at Lissa. "What do you say, Liss? You up for a trip to the middle of nowhere?"

Lissa just laughed and nudged his boot with her own. "I'm _from_ the middle of nowhere, dummy. 'Course I am."


	10. The Past Looming

Hello lovelies! So, I'm actually really excited about some of the material this covers - you'll get to learn a little more about Lissa's backstory and her upbringing in Central. Eventually her entire past will be revealed (I don't like leaving too much unanswered!) but it's definitely a bit of a trickle... So I'm looking forward to getting some of that out there. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Seriously, out of everybody in the entire military, you have to think _he's_ the best," Ed hissed under his breath, glaring at Lissa like the whole thing was her fault.

She just rolled her eyes at him. "Just because you think he's overbearing. Alex is one of the best people I've ever met—so be nice or I'll tell him you need lots and lots of hugging or you'll be severely depressed. And he'd believe me, you know he would."

Ed sneered. "You're evil, Lissa."

"Be nice to _me_ too. I have five stitches in my stomach, and I just leapt in front of a crazy serial killer to save you." Lissa huffed and crossed her arms, a bit sore at him—he'd been awkward about her actions the night before, which meant he hadn't actually _thanked_ her or scarcely acknowledged what she'd done at all. She hadn't done it to get attention, that would be stupid and horrible of her…but it still rubbed her the wrong way that he'd been so odd about it.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly, softening immediately. "I—I'm sorry, Lissa. I'm not trying to treat you badly or anything…"

She felt guilty about that, for making him feel bad when she knew he wasn't doing anything intentionally. Really, she knew him better than that. "No, Ed, you aren't… I just…" Lissa looked away from him a moment, ashamed. "I was afraid you'd be angry with me, that's all. I know it was reckless of me, but I couldn't…" Her breath caught. "I couldn't let him do that to you."

Ed smiled that crooked smile of his, and she blinked at him in surprise. He…wasn't angry? "It _was_ reckless… But… You might've saved my life last night. So… Thank you." Then he pointed at her and narrowed his eyes. "Don't _ever_ do it again, got it? I mean it. I don't want you throwing your life away like that. You already do enough for me, seriously, and that sort of thing is just…" He took her hand and pulled her in closer, shaking his head faintly. "I couldn't live with myself, okay? If something happened to you like that. Be careful, Liss."

"I can't promise that," she told him honestly. "I can promise to be careful, but… I'd still do it again, Ed. And I can't change it—that's just how I feel, it's just a fact of how my mind works. I care about you." Lissa grinned and pulled him towards the train, knowing Alex would come looking if they were gone too long. " _But_ , Al is gonna kick your ass all the way to Drachma if you do something like that again, so it won't be an issue, right?"

He rolled his eyes and let her drag him along. "Yeah, yeah. Fair. Don't rip your stitches, though!"

They caught up with Alex beside the door to the train, and hurried to find seats—which wasn't such an issue, with people pausing every few seconds to gawk up at the Major in pure awe. It was just a matter of winding their way through the onlookers until they found an empty couple benches and sat down there.

Lissa stretched out on her side, leaning her head into the window and smirking across at Ed, who had gotten roped into sitting beside Alex. Apparently, she deserved the whole side on account of the stitches in her abdomen. She wasn't going to argue that.

Someone knocked on the glass, and Ed raised up on his knees to slide a panel of the window open and stick his head out. Lissa sat up too, surprised to see Lieutenant Colonel Hughes standing outside their carriage. She got back to her feet and leaned into the window to join in the conversation, unwilling to be left out.

"Hey," Hughes greeted brightly.

Edward gave him a baffled look. "Lieutenant Colonel?"

Hughes flashed a smile. "The folks at the Eastern Command Center were a bit too busy to make it down here today, so I came to see you off instead."

"That's great… But would you mind telling me what the Major's doing here?" Ed griped.

"For protection," Hughes explained bluntly, raising an eyebrow. "What would happen if Scar came after you again? You two are in no shape for a fight now, Ed. The Major's here to help. Just try to, eh…grin and bear it."

Alex crossed his arms rather primly. "Children can be so stubborn," he lamented.

Ed turned and glowered at him. "Hey, shut up! I'm no child!"

"Play nice," Lissa told him sharply, nudging her elbow into his right side. It was easier without his automail getting in the way, and it was a sensitive place for him, so she was going to take full advantage of the opportunity.

Rubbing at his side, Ed muttered, "Anyway… Are you sure Al made it on board? I didn't see you put him on."

"Of course," Alex told him, looking surprised. Then he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, apparently deciding to offer up more information. "I thought he might get lonely without a little company, so I placed him among the sheep."

Ed's jaw dropped, and Lissa pressed her hands over her mouth to keep from bursting out laughing. Poor Alphonse! "My brother isn't some kind of farm animal!" Ed almost shrieked, seething with anger.

The train's whistle blew, and Hughes stepped back from the window. "Oh, sounds like it's time. Okay, you kids have a safe trip. Stop in and give me a shout the next time you make it to Central!"

He snapped off a salute, which Ed was forced to return left-handed—usually a sign of disrespect, but forgivable in this case—and even Lissa saluted back. She liked Hughes well enough to show him that kind of respect, even though she wasn't technically in the military herself. She'd _never_ do that for Mustang, of course.

The train pulled out of the station, and Lissa settled back in, stretching her legs across the seat and leaning her head back. It was weird, not having Al there. Maybe she'd try to sneak back to the livestock car later and check in on him.

"Hey, Ed…" Lissa cut herself off, though, realizing he'd already fallen asleep with his head against the window. "Oops," she laughed.

Alex gave her a curious look. "Is something the matter, Lissa?"

"Oh, no. I was gonna ask him if he wanted to try and go visit Alphonse, but it's better to let him sleep." She waved her hand passively. "He barely slept at all last night. I should know, the dorms were full with everyone from Central being here to look for Scar, so we ended up sharing a queen-size at the hotel. He was tossing and turning all night."

Sharing a bed was a rare thing, but it did happen when they had no other options. At first, Lissa and Ed had found it awkward, but after a few times they stopped worrying so much. It wasn't too different from sleeping in the same room, and it was purely out of necessity anyway, so what did it matter? Besides, she'd been glad for it the night before, appreciating just having both boys close to her after what had happened. Lissa couldn't bear to lose them.

"Hm. I see." His gaze turned more intense, a look that might've made anyone else quail under it—but Lissa knew it wasn't threatening. "That was a very brave thing you did, last night. Putting yourself in harm's way to protect him. Reckless, but no less brave for it. What compelled you to do such a thing?"

Lissa shut her eyes and sighed, turning the question over in her head. "I just…couldn't stand there and watch Scar kill him. A while back…Al and I promised each other that we'd look after Ed, since he doesn't really look after himself. So I guess that was part of it. But more than that… He'd just…given up, he was bargaining to save my life and Alphonse's, and it about broke my heart that he put his own life so far down the list. I think some part of me wanted to prove that he was worth more than that. Not consciously at the time, but still…"

"I read the reports," Alex admitted, bowing his head. "It was…a very selfless thing, to step into the path of certain death the way you did. Edward Elric must be very important to you indeed, to inspire such behavior. Though I would prefer you look after yourself better…it's good to see you so passionate about something more than a way out."

She twisted her fingers into her jacket and nodded. Alex Armstrong was one of the few people she felt she could be truly honest with—all starting eight years ago, when she'd first come to Central. He knew damn well why she'd originally been so intent on taking her exams early, though he'd never ratted her out. "He is," she agreed, not bothering to hide it. "Al was pretty angry about it… But that's just how he shows care, honestly. I don't think Ed even knew how to handle it. Which is surprising, I mean, I've been traveling with them for three years and they're _still_ surprised I care about them?"

He cracked a faint smile. "Those boys hardly believe anyone cares for them, I'm afraid. They don't see that sort of thing in others very often, and from what I understand, they've suffered enough to have good reason to wonder. I can't say I know the details… But I know enough to be very grateful you were able to join them on their journey."

"I'm just grateful to have _them_ ," she murmured.

Alex settled back in his seat and pulled out a book, clearly sensing she was finished with the conversation. That was another thing she liked about him—as long as you were being open and honest, he'd never press past your limit. It was a refreshing change. "Why don't you rest as well, Lissa?" he suggested. "It will be some time before we arrive in Resembool, and I'm sure you need it, after what you endured."

She didn't think she could sleep—but she nodded her agreement anyway, knowing better than to argue with that tone. Lissa knew that particular tone _very_ well.

—

 _The drop from the window was taller than she was, but she didn't care. Lissa jumped right out anyway, using a wobbly burst of alchemy to catch her fall and keep her from breaking her ankles. One night in this place was too much. She'd go find somebody else to take care of her, since the stupid military wanted to put her in barracks and tried to make her wash off her transmutation circles… Or maybe she'd just stay all by herself._

" _Anything's better than here," seven-year-old Lissa Caito whispered, glaring tearfully up at the institution looming behind her._

 _She left the building behind and raced straight for the barbed-wire fence on the far end of the yard. Just for this, she'd stolen a pen and scrawled transmutation circles on her arms and hands, everything she could think of—so she'd be able to get through that stupid fence and get out. She just knew it._

 _Lissa reached the fence and pressed her hands on it, calling up the blue electricity and transmuting a hole in the fence by forcing the metal to bend open for her._

' _Not electricity,' she reminded herself. 'Daddy called it transmutation energy.'_

" _And just where do you think you're going, hm?"_

 _She shrieked as an enormous hand caught the back of her shirt and lifted her clear off the ground, before she could even try to run away. Lissa's bottom lip wobbled with tears as she saw the man who had caught her—a military guard, the biggest person she'd_ _ever_ _seen, with huge muscles and intense blue eyes. Was he gonna kill her? People said the military was mean, but killing a little girl…_

 _Instead of killing her, though, the giant man just tucked her under his arm and began striding off, towards the gate of the compound._

 _Lissa scowled up at him. Was he kidnapping her? "Hey, put me down!" She twisted her hands together hard, the only way she knew how to use her alchemy without a surface, and forced the air around her to compress and then expand, trying to free herself. To her surprise, it actually worked, though she'd never used alchemy that way before. She hit the ground and pushed up before she even could breathe, taking of running in the opposite direction._

 _With a crackle of blue energy, a mountain of transmuted rocks sprang up in front of her. Lissa skidded to a halt, turning in utter shock to see the guard who had caught her lifting his fist from the ground. "Y-you're an alchemist," she realized._

 _He inclined his head. "Indeed. I am the Strong-Arm Alchemist, Major Alex Louis Armstrong. Now." Major Armstrong gave her an intense look. "You have spirit, little one, but you'd be no match for me. I suggest you concede defeat and accompany me—there's no shame in backing out of a fight you cannot win."_

 _Lissa eyed him suspiciously. She still didn't like this. And he was a state alchemist… So what was he doing guarding the facility like this? The big-name state alchemists never got stuck with guard duty, they were all busy with the war in Ishval. "Go with you where?" she demanded._

 _Beneath his mustache, she saw him smile. "Do you think I would bring you to harm?"_

" _No," she admitted. "But I don't know you, either. You'll probably just drag me back to the institution for punishment."_

" _You would be wrong in your assumption," he told her, offering one of his giant hands for her to take. "Come. It seems to me you're rather in need of a good late-night stroll through the city—and who am I to deny the wishes of a young girl, hm?"_

 _Lissa swallowed hard. She could try to escape him… But he'd been way faster than she thought a person his size could be, and as much as she wanted to fight, she knew she'd lose against a state alchemist. This guy was stronger than the state alchemist who'd brought her in, too, and she'd lost against him in Rayerk. As much as she hated to admit it…she didn't see many other choices here, except to go with Major Armstrong and see what he wanted._

" _Okay," she agreed reluctantly, sticking her hand into his._

 _Major Armstrong led her out of the compound, to her confusion, and down a few darker streets before they emerged onto a surprisingly busy little market street. From there he took Lissa to a quaint bakery just around the corner—and soon enough she was sitting in a chair so tall her feet didn't touch the ground, with a whole bag of chocolate chip cookies in her lap._

" _What is your name, little one?" he asked her curiously. She realized it was odd he hadn't wondered before. He should've asked, to know who was supposed to be punished for running away like that._

" _Lissa Caito," she told him. She hated her real first name. "Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked the Major, peering at him over her bag of cookies._

 _He regarded her very calmly, not offended by the question. "Why shouldn't I be? I know why children come to that institution. I assumed…your parents passed away, and quite recently."_

 _Lissa nodded slowly. "Yeah. They did."_

" _I'm sorry for your loss."_

 _She scowled at the tabletop. "Everyone says that, like they think I should be going around crying like a little baby. But I'm not. I won't cry."_

 _He raised an eyebrow. "And why not? There's no shame in crying when you feel sad."_

" _But I'm_ _not_ _sad," she insisted. "I'm angry. That stupid war killed them. And now because they're gone, I had to leave my home and come all the way here to stupid Central, and sleep in a room with people I've never even met before. I hate it here."_

" _And you blame your parents for it?" he asked softly. "Tell me… Do you believe they left you on purpose? That they intended to leave you alone?"_

 _She crumpled the top of the bag in her hands, watching the transmutation circles on her skin shift with the movement. "I dunno. They must have known it might happen, the soldiers told me so. But we stayed in Rayerk anyway." Lissa kicked her feet, trying to figure out what was going on in her head. So much had happened since those soldiers in the hospital told her that her parents were gone. Lissa only remembered a little from before that—she remembered being a little kid, her childhood in Rayerk, but she had all these…gaps, bits that didn't make any sense. The doctors said she'd been injured when her town was attacked, and her parents were killed then…but Lissa didn't remember it. Everything felt so far away from her. "I don't even remember what happened," she admitted. "I keep thinking…maybe if I go home, I'll still find them… Or that…maybe there's a way to…to fix things…" She looked up at the Major like he had all the answers. "Is that horrible of me? I know it's supposed to be so nice that the state is letting me live here, but…I don't want to be here. I just wanna go home."_

 _Major Armstrong reached across the table and gently disentangled her hands from the top of the bag. "No, Miss Lissa. It isn't horrible of you. It's normal to consider all kinds of things, even desperate, maybe horrible things, when you're hurting. It doesn't make you a bad person. It just makes you human. You are a young girl who misses your parents—I would be surprised if you hadn't considered every possibility. I'm not surprised you tried to run away, either. But where would you go?"_

 _Lissa shrugged. "Home? To Rayerk."_

" _And what would be waiting for you there?" he asked her softly. "That area was nearly destroyed during the war. It's still tenuous and unsafe, even for soldiers in the region, let alone a girl as young as yourself."_

" _But I'm an alchemist," she protested. "I'm really good, too, that's why they made me come here. I do intangibles, and they said that's really special—so I could do it. I'd be okay."_

 _The Major chuckled softly, amused. "You're quite a fighter, aren't you, Lissa?" He shook his head faintly. "Even the most accomplished alchemist would be in danger. I understand that you do not wish to be here… But I would suggest you stay, at least for now. You're being offered a place to stay, and lessons to improve your skills. Make use of the tools you've been handed and make yourself stronger, a better alchemist. Learn all you can. But never forget why you're here, you understand me? Don't ever lose sight of what brought you here."_

 _Lissa stared up at him, stunned. Adults didn't talk to her like that—they always talked down to her, like she was a little kid who needed to be babied. But Major Armstrong was being honest with her. "Thank you," she murmured. "I—I'll try to do that."_

" _Good. And if you work hard…" He winked at her. "Perhaps one day you'll even be a match for me."_

 _Lissa giggled and bit into another cookie. "I'd have to be pretty good. You're scary, Major Armstrong. Not in a bad way. In a—punching-bad-guys kind of way." She grinned at him, aware now that he was big and scary in size only, but deep down, he was a very kind person. He had to be, to treat her like this. "That's the kind of scary I wanna be."_

 _Major Armstrong laughed, full and loud. "I believe you'll manage that, Lissa Caito. I really do."_

—

The train rolled to a stop at a small, quaint little station just a couple stops from Resembool. Lissa only vaguely remembered it from the time she'd come this way before—she'd been too focused on being cross with Colonel Mustang and trying to figure out why he'd dragged her all the way past East City for what she thought was a stupid errand.

 _I had no idea I'd meet my best friends,_ she mused, thinking back to that night. It was the first time she'd leapt in to protect Edward—but not the last.

Across from her, the boy in question was stirring, cracking a big yawn and stretching his arms over his head as he peered out the window. "Mh, where are we?" he asked sleepily. "Are we in Resembool yet?"

"Morning," Lissa teased. "No, not yet. We're a couple stops up still."

Ed grinned at her. "Oh, good. More sleep." He was just tilting his head back to the window when suddenly Alex squished him into the wall, leaving Ed pinned and flailing as he stuck his head out the window to stare at a man who had just walked by.

"Dr. Marcoh! Dr. Marcoh, that is you, isn't it? It's me! Alex Louis Armstrong, from Central!" he yelled.

Lissa frowned as she caught a glimpse of the man, turning with a petrified look on his face—before he ducked away and ran straight off the platform, clearly more than just caught off guard. "That's weird," she mused, frowning. "Why'd he run away?"

Freed from the wall, Ed peered up at Armstrong curiously. "Friend of yours?"

"He's from Central," Alex explained. "A talented state alchemist. He was researching into possible medical applications of alchemy. But after the Ishvalan Civil War, he went missing—just disappeared."

Ed looked at Lissa in surprise. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

She nodded. "Definitely."

They took off running, leaving Alex standing baffled in the aisle. "Let's go, Major!" Ed called back. "A guy like this doctor might know some useful things about bio-alchemy."

"We need to get Al, too," Lissa pointed out. "Alex, would you mind grabbing him?"

" _Alex_ ," Ed mocked, wrinkling his nose while they waited on the platform. "And you call Lieutenant Hawkeye _Riza_. I can't decide if it's disrespectful or impressive."

Lissa tugged his braid just to mess with him. "I mean, I did grow up in Central," she pointed out wryly. "I've known most of these guys since I was seven, so it's kind of hard to just use ranks or surnames after a while. I'm not even technically military yet. I don't know _all_ of them that well—but I've known Alex since I was seven, and Riza since I was…I think eight, maybe. Though it took me _ages_ to get the courage to call her that. She's scary when she wants to be."

"Yeah… I feel like she might shoot me if I called her that," he admitted, shuddering. "Oh, hey, there he is. Al!" Ed hurried off down the platform to rejoin his brother, and Lissa just grinned and followed him, hands in her pockets absently.

Ed groaned when he reached Al, pinched his nose, and muttered, "Ew, Al. You reek of sheep."

"I didn't ask to get stuck with the sheep, it's not my fault!" Al protested.

A bit gingerly, Ed patted him atop his head, like he was afraid the strong livestock smell would cling to his glove. "Ugh, well…at least the Major's gotta carry you, not me."

"Why are we stopping here anyway?" Alphonse asked, as Alex hefted the box he'd been packed in onto his shoulder. "I thought we were going straight to Resembool."

"Major Armstrong spotted this state alchemist who was researching medical applications of alchemy," Ed explained, leading the charge away from the station. "He ran off somewhere, so we're gonna look around and see if we can't track him down. He's some old guy, so he couldn't have gotten too far."

Despite Ed's assertion, though, they couldn't find this Dr. Marcoh anywhere. Alex had drawn a picture in his notebook, which he was showing to any villager they came across—a stunningly good portrait, actually, which was attributed to a talent which had been _passed down through the Armstrong family for generations_ —but it didn't get them very far. Nobody knew his name at all, not even a single person recognized the name _Marcoh_.

Finally, though, one man looked at the portrait and nodded an affirmative. "I don't know any Dr. Marcoh, but that man looks like Dr. Mauro to me."

"Mauro?" Alex repeated thoughtfully.

The man nodded. "Yeah, he's great. All our local doctors were drafted to help on the battlefields during the civil war. Then Dr. Mauro came here, he's been a real lifesaver."

Catching the conversation, a passing couple walked up and joined in. "He'll see any patient and he never gives up on anybody," the guy added. "We're lucky he's here."

The woman on his arm smiled and nodded her agreement. "You'll see this big, bright flash of red light—and then you're cured, just like that!"

Lissa gave Ed a pointed look. "A flash of red light?" she murmured, while Alex got the details of where exactly this _Dr. Mauro_ kept his business. "And then instant healing? I don't wanna get ahead of ourselves, but that really sounds like…"

"Cornello," he finished, golden eyes bright with excitement. "We have to check this out."

The address they got for Dr. Mauro wasn't far, thankfully. It turned out to be a few streets over, a squared-off white building with ivy creeping up the front, and a staircase leading up to the front door. Ed was the first up the stairs, though Lissa chased him down and caught his wrist before he could knock. "Hey, why'd you stop me?" he demanded, frowning at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Dummy. You're down one arm so you can't use alchemy. I might still be injured, but at least I can use my alchemy."

Ed grumbled under his breath, but stood aside anyway.

Lissa put on her best _I'm-being-pleasant-and-dealing-with-adults_ face, and knocked smartly on the door. Nobody answered, so she just grabbed the handle and opened it. They needed information, after all. "Dr. Mauro? Hell…o?"

She froze where she stood, halfway through the door, when a gun suddenly appeared right in front of her face.

There was the faintest disturbance in the air as Dr. Marcoh—it _had_ to be him—clenched his muscles and pulled the trigger. Lissa reacted as she felt it, bringing both hands up and clenching them down on the pistol in a flurry of blue energy. Air impacted inside the barrel and the bullet lodged there, stuck in place. When the hammer landed, the gun itself exploded, and Lissa jumped back as the doctor staggered away, wincing at the sting on her palms.

"Liss!" Ed darted in and yanked Lissa back, Armstrong moving in behind him. But Lissa was more focused on her gloves, both of which had torn on the palms pretty badly. She glared over at the stunned doctor, yanking them off and brandishing them at him irritably. "You were gonna shoot me?" she demanded. "What the hell's your problem?"

Dr. Marcoh pressed against the far wall, already fumbling in the nearest drawer for what she assumed was another weapon. "Tell me what you're doing here!" he yelled, the air thick with the salt of his fear. "Have you come to take me back?!"

"Please, Doctor, calm down," Alex asked of him, maybe unaware of how intimidating he was, filling the doorway like that.

"I don't ever want to go back!" the doctor begged. "Anything but that!"

Ed glared at him, still keeping his one good arm in front of Lissa like he'd protect her. Sweet, but unnecessary. "Are you even listening to us? That's not why we're here!"

Something darker came over Dr. Marcoh's face. "So you're here to silence me, then?"

"No! It's nothing like that!" Ed protested.

But Dr. Marcoh just wasn't listening anymore. "I won't be tricked by you!" he yelled, though his voice trembled.

Apparently, after that, Alex had heard enough. He stepped forward, gave a thrust of his shoulder—and _flung_ poor Alphonse into Dr. Marcoh, knocking the man flat on his back. "I'll ask you one more time, _please_ calm down!"

"Alphonse!" Ed yelped, rushing forward to check on his brother.

Lissa shot Alex a dry look. "Did you have to throw Al? I mean, wasn't there a better way to handle this guy?"

Alex shrugged primly. "It seemed prudent at the time."

She knew better than to argue, so she just rolled her eyes and joined Ed, where he was still freaking out about Al. "He's fine, Ed," she laughed, resting a hand atop Al's helmet. "Isn't that right, Alphonse?"

"As long as I don't get thrown again…"

Lissa bent and kissed the top of his head. "I'll do my best, promise."

Dr. Marcoh sat up shakily and eyed them all, still looking terrified. "Y-you… Why aren't you arresting me?" he asked. "Or killing me?"

"We _told_ you," Ed griped. "We're not here for any of that stuff. Jeez, old man."

Lissa leaned into the side of Al's crate and examined her gloves, considering the material that was left. It seemed like she hadn't lost much, as far as she could tell, so she pressed them between her hands and pieced them back together, lighting up the room with blue energy. The action drew Dr. Marcoh's eyes to her, and she noted his curiosity as she slipped the right one back on. "Yeah, I have transmutation circles tattooed on my hands," she told him, and pulled the left glove on. "That's why I wear these. Otherwise people stare, or they ask me to transmute things for them."

He nodded slowly, still staring at her, right into her eyes. It was disconcerting. "Your eyes… They look…very familiar to me, somehow… What is your name, young lady?"

"Er…" She glanced sideways at Ed, wanting to see that he was just as baffled as she felt. And sure enough, she saw that confusion reflected in his gold eyes. "I don't see how, I've never met you before… But… My name is Lissa Caito."

Dr. Marcoh's eyes widened. "Caito? Your last name is Caito?"

"Um, yes?" Lissa finally tuned into the buzzing around her ears and sank into it, for just a moment, feeling…moss…like old moss and mud deep in the pit of her stomach… Was that guilt? "I'm Lissandra Caito. Why? What does that mean to you, Doctor?"

He pushed up onto his elbows and sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "I knew your parents… Richard and Miranda Caito… They…they were colleagues of mine."

Lissa's whole world ground to a halt. "You… _knew_ them?" she whispered.

"Yes, I did. Though I wasn't…actually aware they had a daughter."

The admission made her chest ache with a sudden rush of sorrow. Her parents hadn't even mentioned her to their colleagues. Just from her memories of them leaving her behind she'd known she didn't matter as much as a child should have, to normal parents, but this… She'd never imagined this. For someone who knew her parents by their first names to have had no idea she even existed? What did that _mean_?

Dr. Marcoh regarded her a moment longer, before hanging his head and relenting. "All right. I'll tell you everything. Just please…don't take me back to Central."

Half an hour later, Dr. Marcoh had explained how he arrived in this little town—how he fled the military after getting in too deep and regretting what he'd done, regretting what he'd been involved in, out of fear for retribution or his research being used in the wrong way. He'd told them everything…except about Lissa's parents. And that was her biggest concern. This was the first person she'd met who actually _knew_ them.

"I see now why you ran when I called out to you," Alex mused thoughtfully. "And, if the rumors I've heard can be believed…when you disappeared, you took top secret research materials with you as well."

Dr. Marcoh nodded. "I couldn't handle it anymore. Order or no order, to have to dirty my hands researching that thing was too much…"

Ed glanced at Lissa for just a split second. "What _thing_ is that?" he questioned.

But Dr. Marcoh didn't answer immediately. His gaze turned distant, that moss-mud sickly press of _guilt_ driving into Lissa's abdomen as his mind clearly ventured somewhere else. "It took so many lives," he murmured. "During the Ishvalan Civil War, so many innocents died because of it… I could spend my whole life trying and still never atone for the things I've done. But I had to do _something_. So I came here to be a doctor, to save lives instead of taking them."

 _He still won't tell us. What could possibly be so horrible that he can hardly stand to voice it?_

"Doctor, what exactly was it you were ordered to do research on?" Alex pressed, leaning in over the tabletop. "What _thing_?"

"The Philosopher's Stone."

Ed's hand shot out underneath the table and grabbed onto Lissa's, hard, so tight she almost winced. But she didn't blame him. Dr. Marcoh had been doing serious, legitimate research on the very thing Ed and Al were searching for, the object they believed could get them their bodies back. Lissa hoped, so desperately, that this doctor could be the answer.

"The top-secret materials I took were my research documents…and the stone itself," Dr. Marcoh finished gravely.

At his pronouncement, Ed shot up from the table, banging his left hand down atop it and shouting, "Do you mean you still have it?! It's _here_?!"

Wordlessly, Dr. Marco reached into his jacket and pulled out a small glass vial. Lissa's pulse pounded in her ears. The vial was half-full of a ruby-red substance, a liquid, yet…she could _feel_ it, like what she'd sensed from Cornello's ring in Liore. Like blood, like a slimy film all over her body, sinking into quicksand… She had no idea why it felt so _wrong_ , but it didn't matter. It wasn't like she understood the strange feelings she got anyway.

"How can that be the stone?" Ed asked, staring at it with wide eyes. "It's a liquid."

As they watched, Dr. Marcoh uncorked the vial and tipped the contents out over the table. When the red liquid landed, it coalesced into a single ball, holding together by some unseen force. "The Sage's Stone… The Grand Elixir… The Celestial Stone… The Red Tincture… The Fifth Element. Just as the Philosopher's Stone is called by many names, so can it take on many forms."

Ed stuck out his hand and poked at the stone, watching the surface depress and spring back, the whole form sort of…jiggling a bit at the motion. It truly _did_ hold its shape without a container.

"It is not necessarily a stone," the doctor continued, sighing. At least he was answering their questions now. "This is an incomplete product, however. There's no way to know when it will reach its limit and become unusable."

"Incomplete," Lissa repeated thoughtfully. "So incomplete Philosopher's Stones burn out… But you said it'll _become_ unusable, not that it can't be used now. Which means it's still powerful like this."

"Exactly. And I bet stones like this demonstrated plenty of power during the Ishvalan Civil War, right?" Ed's voice was careful, his excitement held on a tight leash, but she could sense it anyway. "It's just like the stone that false priest had in Liore. It was incomplete, but it still amplified his powers considerably. You were right, Liss. If imitation stones this powerful can be produced…then the real one _must_ have been created somewhere."

Lissa flinched in alarm when Ed slammed his palm down on the table again, staring across at the doctor with a fierce look in his eyes. She knew that look, when his eyes turned to liquid gold and his shoulders took on that determined set… Oh no…

"Please, Dr. Marcoh, we need access to your research materials," Ed all but demanded.

Dr. Marcoh looked across at Alex uncertainly. "Major…who exactly are these two?" he asked wearily.

"Lissa Caito is a highly accomplished alchemist with special talents in the field of intangible materials. And Edward Elric…" Alex's gaze darkened. "Is a state alchemist."

"What?!" Dr. Marcoh reared back in shock. "But they're just children!" He pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly distressed. "After the war…there were many state alchemists who turned in their certifications because they refused to serve as human weapons anymore. And now… _children_ …"

"You think I don't know what I signed up for?!" Ed demanded harshly. "You think we don't know exactly what this is?" He grabbed the empty sleeve on his right side and glared across at the doctor. "I know what I'm doing. But I don't have any choice. If this is a mistake, then it's a mistake I have to make. There is no other way."

The doctor stared at him, seeming half horrified and half depressed at it all. "No other way to do what?"

Ed fell silent then, his jaw tense, unable to form the damning words. So, seeing no other options, Lissa spoke up for him. "To get their bodies back," she explained lowly, glancing at Ed as she voiced it to ensure he wasn't upset with her. But his gaze never faltered. "His and his brother's."

"His brother's body too?" Dr. Marcoh asked, not catching it yet.

Lissa just nodded. "Ed's right arm and left leg are automail, though the arm's out of commission right now. And Al…" She reached out and touched his armored head gently. "He lost his entire body."

Dr. Marcoh rose from the table and approached Al with clear trepidation, and Lissa knew, just from the look on his face, that he'd put it together. "I see," he murmured. "So…you've committed the taboo." He peered down at Al, who stared up at him with clear defiance. "Amazing… The ability to transmute a specific person's soul like this is very rare. Perhaps… Perhaps one as talented as you would be able to produce a complete Philosopher's Stone."

Ed grinned tightly at Lissa. "So-"

"But I can't show you my research," the doctor told him, almost apologetically.

"Why not?!" Edward demanded.

Dr. Marcoh turned away from Al and shook his head, his shoulders slumping. "You must not seek after the stone."

Ed tightened his fingers on the table, glaring at him like this was a personal affront. "Not even if it's to get our bodies back?"

"Never!" Dr. Marcoh shouted suddenly, startling them all as he whipped around towards them, his face contorted in some kind of internal agony. "This is the devil's research. If you chase the stone, you will go through hell!"

"I've already been through hell!" Ed snarled, shoving up from the table and flinging his arm wide.

Lissa jumped up beside him and caught his sleeve, tugging his arm back down and placing herself between him and the doctor. "Ed, calm down," she whispered. She genuinely thought he might go after Dr. Marcoh, just for a moment, overcome by his own desperation—not for himself but for _Alphonse_ , to get his brother's body back. Ed would do anything for that purpose.

"Please," Dr. Marcoh begged softly. "Please, just leave."

Ed stood there a moment, his body pressed into Lissa's side as though he'd push past her—but then he gritted his teeth and nodded, just once. "Fine. I'm sorry to have disturbed you." He turned and stormed out the door, leaving Alex to pick up Al, while Lissa stood uncertainly, wondering who exactly to focus on. This couldn't have been easy on Al either, but Ed was in some kind of poor mental state too… Sometimes it was hard looking after the boys, when they reacted so differently to these things.

"Miss Caito…"

She paused at the door, looking back at Dr. Marcoh in surprise. "Yes?"

"I hope you find a better path than your parents," he told her quietly, looking impossibly sad. "I heard what happened to them… I'm so sorry for your loss."

Lissa shrugged it off. "I don't remember a lot from before they passed, but, thank you anyway."

Unwilling to linger there anymore, Lissa hurried out then, closing the door behind her and chasing Ed down the street. She didn't think he needed somebody to talk him down just then—sometimes he needed to stew in his own rage until logic found its way back in. So she just walked beside him, hands in her pockets, offering silent companionship until he needed her.


	11. Heart on the Sleeve

Fluff incoming! Just a lil. Really. But I'm impatient to get to the fluffier, sweeter stuff here so I'm getting excited. As always, I hope you guys enjoy, and I love hearing your thoughts! Thank you so much for reading!

* * *

They returned to the station to await the next train heading south, and Lissa settled onto the bench between Ed and Alex, resting her elbows on her knees and staring out at the tracks. He'd known her parents. She remembered them vaguely, from her childhood—she remembered practicing alchemy, mostly. Lissa had seen photos, so she knew their faces, but she hardly knew anymore if her memories with their faces were because of the pictures, or because she actually remembered them that well. But to meet someone who knew them…who knew about their lives…and then be forced to walk away like that… It was eating at her. She wanted to know everything about them, and most especially how they'd come to be involved with a state alchemist working on the Philosopher's Stone.

"Are you sure about this, Ed?" Alex asked him quietly.

Ed looked up in surprise. "Huh? Sure about what?"

"Even an incomplete Philosopher's Stone could be useful. You could have taken it by force." He was…testing Ed, Lissa realized. Alex wanted to see how he'd react to that—and why he hadn't just snagged the stone when it was right there in front of him.

"Yeah… I wanted it so badly I could almost taste it," Ed admitted quietly. "But still…"

Al picked up the thread. "But still, we don't want it so badly that we'd be willing to deprive this town of their only doctor just to get it. We have to do this the right way, or not at all."

Ed cracked a faint smile and nodded his agreement. "We gained plenty just finding proof that the Philosopher's Stone can be made. Now, we'll just have to look for some other way to do it." His arm shifted against the back of the bench, and Lissa felt his hand brush the top of her spine, so casually she thought it had to be an accident. It made her inexplicably tense, though. "And what about you, Major?" Ed asked with a smirk in his direction. "How do you feel about not reporting back to Central on Dr. Marcoh's location?"

Alex turned his nose up. "I met a simple, small-town doctor today. Nothing more. I can't see any real reason to report that."

Their train pulled in, and Lissa fought back a fully-body jolt as Ed stood up beside her, his hand nearly snagging her jacket in the process. "C'mon. Train's here. And Major, I swear, if you put Alphonse in with the damned livestock again…"

"Hmph. Fine, if that's what you'd prefer…"

They were just about to hop on—Lissa actually had a hand on the door of the train, when someone yelled out, "Wait!"

"Dr. Marcoh?" Ed wondered, frowning.

She turned in surprise as Dr. Marcoh came running up onto the platform, panting and holding a single sheet of paper, folded halfway, in his hand. "This is where my research materials are," he blurted, and handed the paper over to Ed. "If you're certain you won't regret learning the truth in the end, start here. Look closely. Maybe you'll find the truth hidden within the truth." His gaze snapped up to meet Lissa's. "Both of you. But… I've said too much already." Dr. Marcoh turned to leave, but paused, looked back, and added to the boys, "I hope the day will come when you're able to restore your bodies. Good luck."

"Weird," Lissa mused, watching him hurry away from the station. "I wonder why he changed his mind like that?"

"Brother, what does the note say?" Al asked—he was trapped in the box, after all.

Edward flipped the paper up and eyed it, his brows furrowed in confusion. "It says… National Central Library, First Branch."

"I get it. Like hiding a tree in the forest. Finding one single book in that library will be difficult indeed," Alex observed thoughtfully.

"It's still a clue." Ed tightened his fingers around the note and grinned at Al. "I'll take it."

Lissa was glad to see him reenergized—until they boarded the train and he couldn't sit freaking still, bouncing his legs constantly, shifting positions, driving her absolutely crazy just watching him writhing with all that energy. Finally, still a good hour outside Resembool, she'd had enough. "All right, dummy," she grumbled, rising to her feet. "Come on. Let's go walk the train if you're gonna keep dancing around like that."

"M'not dancing," he protested. But all the same, Ed got to his feet and followed her into the aisle.

Alex lifted his eyes from his book. "And just where do you two think you're going?"

"Just to let Ed walk off some of his nervous energy," Lissa explained brightly. "Don't worry, I can protect us if anything happens. We're not going to do anything stupid." She went to take Ed's arm and guide him away—but he caught her hand and slipped his fingers between hers instead, which she didn't mind at all.

"I just can't settle down," he explained as they walked, passing into the next car and finding it mostly empty. "You know better than almost anyone, Lissa. Finding the stone…it's everything Al and I have been working towards for years now."

She tightened her fingers around his and nodded. "I do know. I really hope this pans out, Ed. I just…" Lissa sighed and pushed open the door at the end of the car. Wind rushed inside, but she welcomed it, stepping out with Ed and closing the door behind them. Then she paused there, leaning her hip against the railing and giving him a serious look. "I don't want to see you disappointed again, that's all. It kinda breaks my heart watching you go through that every time."

Edward copied her position, still holding her hand, leaning his right hip into the railing for balance. "I'll take a thousand disappointments if it means getting Al's body back," he told her fiercely. "I'm going to do it, Liss. I'm going to get his body back, no matter how many times I have to go through that."

"And I've never doubted you, Ed. But… I'm your friend. I don't like seeing you hurt." She brushed her hair out of her face, though the wind tried to whip it right back just seconds later. "All I'm saying is…be careful. When Scar attacked you… Not down in the city, but by that statue, when he first showed up… You didn't even _move_. You could've died right there if Alphonse hadn't pulled you out of the way. I know exactly how bad you get when you're really disappointed… When you start to give up… I don't want this to be like that."

He shook his head firmly. "It won't be. Dr. Marcoh had a real Philosopher's Stone—not the full version, but close enough that it might even work to bring our bodies back, I don't know yet. And as soon as I get my arm back and put Al back together, we'll go find that research in Central and…and maybe this can be _it_. I have such a strong feeling about this, I really do." Ed's hand clamped down on hers. "You felt it, didn't you? From that stone Dr. Marcoh showed us? I know you had to, you get this look in your eyes whenever you're sensing stuff." He curled one corner of his lips up into a rueful sort of smile. "I wish I could feel what you do."

"No, you don't." Lissa pulled away from him and crossed her arms. "You really don't. Trust me on that." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, wondering how much to tell him. If she told him how _wrong_ the stone felt, it might shut him down completely… And she didn't even know why it felt that way. Maybe only incomplete stones felt so weird, and a complete one would be totally different. What did she know?

"Ed…" She reached out and touched her hand to the left side of his chest, watching his cheeks dust with pink as her fingers slipped beneath his jacket. "Protect your heart. _Please_. I never want to see you like that again."

He smiled faintly and brought his hand up, placing it atop hers gently. "I'll try. I swear I will."

They stood like that a moment, Lissa's face growing warm as she realized how…how _intimate_ the moment felt… Then she carefully moved her hand away and broke contact, clearing her throat softly to shake the awkwardness off. "You know…my hometown isn't actually all that far from Resembool. Did I ever tell you that?"

"No," he admitted. "You don't talk much about your life before you came to Central, actually."

Lissa winced. "I don't remember a lot of it. But…I do remember more from when I was…I think four or five, growing up in a little town called Rayerk. It's in the South Area, but it's all the way on the eastern border so it's pretty close to Resembool. I think it's a bit over forty kilometers away. The first time I came out here, I realized they're pretty similar towns—small, remote, lots of farming and not much else."

Ed looked at her curiously, sticking his thumb into his trouser pocket absently. "Rayerk… That's one of the towns that got destroyed just like Resembool during the Ishvalan Civil War, isn't it? I think I know where it is…" He laughed softly. "It's weird to think that we grew up so close, and went through all those really horrible things… But without it, I don't know if we ever would've met."

"Alex says everything happens for a reason… He told me that all the time when I was younger, when I'd get frustrated and upset with the situation I'm in." Lissa traced a design absently on the railing as she recalled it. "He said we don't always see _why_ immediately, but there's always a reason for it."

He wrinkled his nose at her. "I have no idea what you see in him. Seriously."

"Dummy," she muttered. "Look… My first night in Central, right after my parents passed, I snuck out of the facility and tried to run away. Alex caught me. Apparently he'd been stuck on guard duty that night for one reason or another… Anyway… He was supposed to drag me back in and hand me off for punishment, that's what anyone else would've done. But instead he took me off the property, to this little bakery so I could get away from everything. He bought me a whole bag of cookies, all to myself, and just…talked to me like an adult. I don't know where I'd be if he hadn't done that."

Ed's eyes widened as she talked, almost comically, like he'd never expected anything like that. And maybe he hadn't. "I had no idea he did that for you, Liss. Seriously. I kinda get it, considering that, why you'd be close to him. But…" He gave her a very intense look. "How the hell do you get away with calling Lieutenant Hawkeye _Riza_ without her shooting you?"

Lissa giggled and pressed a hand to her mouth. "That's my secret, Elric. I'll never tell, otherwise, I'd have to kill you."

He burst out laughing too, the serious moment gone, tilting his head back and letting out a boyish, full laugh that made her feel warm all over. Edward wasn't _happy_ like that often, and she loved seeing when he was.

But then, off balance because of his missing arm, Ed tilted and stumbled—right as the train went over a bump in the tracks.

Lissa felt the moment he went from flailing his left arm to genuinely _falling_ , felt the disturbance in the air all across her skin. "Ed!" she shrieked, panicked. She lunged forward, the air all around him crackling blue as she struggled to use the wind whipping around them to her benefit, instead of fighting against it. The alchemic energy raced across her skin as she twisted her hands midair, forcing the wind in the _opposite_ direction—and with a sudden rush of momentum, Ed was propelled away from the open edge of the car and directly into her arms.

All the air was knocked out of her lungs as he rammed into her, and she staggered into the wall, holding tight to him and burying her face in his shoulder. They stood there like that a moment, clinging together, both panting hard and trembling faintly.

"You okay?" she whispered finally, lifting her head.

Ed let out a harsh breath. "Y-yeah. Thanks for, y'know…saving me."

Lissa smiled at him weakly, still trying to get her lungs working again. "That's two times in just a couple days, you know," she teased. "If I do it too much, it'll totally ruin your reputation. You gotta stop getting into trouble."

He didn't return the jest, though. "You're always sticking your neck out for me… All the damn time… And I have _no_ idea why, Liss. I really don't."

"Because I care about you," she explained, feeling a bit confused. What was so difficult for him to understand? "It's not like I'm doing it to get something in return. I just…don't want anything to happen to you, that's all."

But he still wasn't content. "That first time, though… In Resembool… You stood up to Mustang for me. And I didn't know it at the time, but that had to be a pretty big deal, didn't it? I mean, being out on a mission like that, you were technically under his command, and I know he was furious with you for it. What made you _do_ that? You'd never even met me before."

Lissa tightened her fingers down on his red cloak when he went to move away, suddenly unwilling to let him so much as put an inch of distance between them. "Because…because you looked so…hurt," she whispered. "I'd never seen somebody look that way before. And I'd seen your house, Ed, we came straight from there. I saw…" Her throat closed up and she cut herself off. Lissa would _never_ admit the thing she'd seen-not-seen, the horrific, twisted figure that hadn't really been there at all. "I just knew I had to do something. I had to protect you."

"Man." He sighed and rested his forehead against her shoulder, all the energy going out of him. "I _so_ don't deserve you around, do I?"

"Don't say things like that."

"It's true, though. You're always getting hurt because of me, and you know it. I can think of a dozen times last year alone you got injured because of something I did, or some situation you were only in because of me and the crap I drag you into." Edward's self-hatred spiked, a rough, sore patch on her heart. "Then you threw yourself in front of Scar for me… You were literally willing to _die_ if it meant protecting me. That's… You have no reason to do that, Lissa. None at all. I don't understand why you're even still here most of the time."

She sighed and leaned back far enough to look at him, catching the genuine confusion in his golden eyes. "What do you mean, I don't have any reason to do that? I have _every_ reason. _I_ can think of a dozen times in the past year where you saved my ass or helped me somehow. Besides, that's what you do for someone you care about." Lissa smiled and stepped back, taking his hand in both of hers. "Let's go in, okay? Before one of us nearly eats train tracks again."

For a moment, he just went with her as she moved towards the door—but then Ed pulled back just enough to stop her. "Liss… Don't…don't do that again, please. Don't throw yourself in front of somebody for me."

"I won't promise that," she told him honestly. "I can't. Because I don't regret it."

Ed's face contorted in some kind of agony, something she felt like the scrape of a blade down her chest. "I mean it. You can't do things like that for me."

"You know, I can sense it when you feel things that strongly," she admitted. "The self-hatred… I feel it right here." She touched two fingers to her chest, just over her heart. "You can't stop me from caring, and that's just…sometimes how it shows. Okay? What, you're saying you wouldn't do something totally dumb and reckless for me?"

"Of _course_ I would," he protested quickly, looking shocked. "What are you even talking about? I care about you too, I'd—I'd do anything to keep you safe, you know I-"

Lissa leaned in and kissed his cheek, just softly, but it caused him to press his lips together and turn bright red. "So _stop_ , Ed. You know how I feel, then, so just stop worrying so much. I'm not going anywhere, I don't _want_ to go anywhere." She reached down and took his hand again, feeling infinitely better when he quirked a smile at her, even though it was oddly…shy. It was weird to see him look shy like that. "What do you say we go find the luggage car and check on Al? The sheep wouldn't have been good company, but I still bet he's lonely."

Ed grinned then and nodded, back to his usual self in a heartbeat. "Sounds good to me," he agreed. He pulled on her arm and headed into the next car, but for a moment, just a single second, Lissa felt a burst of…of warmth like a sunrise, like the bloom of a flower. It took her breath away, but it was gone in an instant.

 _What was that? Was that…Edward?_

She bit her lip and forced down sudden, inexplicable embarrassment. This was just Ed. She had nothing to feel strangely about, nothing at all.

—

"It's much nicer here when it's sunny," Lissa observed, spinning in the middle of the dirt road and breathing in the clear air. "Last time it rained the whole time I was here, but this is lovely." She shut her eyes and tipped her head up to let the sun warm her, just enjoying the feeling of being so far out of Central, away from the harsher scents of the city.

She stumbled as Ed bumped her with his shoulder, smirking. "C'mon. You look like some recluse who's never seen the sun before, Liss."

Lissa rolled her eyes and snagged the empty sleeve on his coat, using it to tug him along behind her. "And here I thought _you_ were the recluse. How many times have you passed off your pocket watch on me to get out of talking to people?"

They bantered back and forth a little, all in fun, and Lissa felt just so… _light_. It was so pretty out here in Resembool, and by the way both Ed and Al were talking, they seemed to feel better too, much better than they had back in Central. In the three years she'd been traveling with them, they'd never actually returned to this little town, not even once, so maybe it'd be good for the boys to come home after such a long period of time. She hoped so.

The stroll through the countryside was lovely, easy despite the rolling hills and uneven terrain. Lissa got caught up in the boys' stories about the different farms around them, awed by the window into their childhood they opened for her—they filled the time with anecdotes from growing up here, all sorts of mischief they got into and chaos they caused.

Finally, they crested a sloping hill, and Lissa's chest tightened as she saw the familiar automail shop. She'd never forget it—this was where she'd first met Ed and Al, of course. Where—at least as far as she saw it—she'd changed her life forever by ignoring orders and rushing inside.

A black and white dog stood at the end of the lane, barking and hopping up and down excitedly. Lissa noticed his left foreleg was actually automail, a sweet gesture, she thought. As they approached, an old woman stepped down the porch and joined the dog, watching their odd little group close the last bit of distance between them and the property. Lissa recognized her immediately as Pinako Rockbell, the woman she'd met when she came here before.

"Yo, Granny!" Ed greeted, lifting his arm to wave at her.

"We're home!" Al tacked on brightly.

Ms. Rockbell sighed wearily. "Oh, dear. What have you done now?" she asked, though she didn't seem surprised by their appearance in the slightest.

"A lot has happened," Ed told her sheepishly. "Can you fix us up?"

With a loud _thud_ , Alex sat Al down right there outside, and the dog, apparently recognizing him, lifted onto his hind legs and pawed at the crate, trying to lick Al's face. It was cute, that the dog knew who Al was even in the armor.

"This is Major Alex Louis Armstrong," Ed introduced, as Ms. Rockbell shook his giant hand and introduced herself in turn. "And this is-"

"Oh, yes, I remember you," Ms. Rockbell cut in. "You're the young lady who defended Edward a few years back, aren't you?"

Lissa blinked in surprise, stunned she'd remembered her at all. "Yes, that's me. I'm Lissa Caito. Thank you for letting us stay here, Ms. Rockbell—I hope we aren't intruding on your home. I wasn't sure you'd even remember me, to be honest." She figured a little propriety might be nice in this case, since she and Alex were kind of showing up unannounced, after all.

"Just Pinako, please." The old woman eyed her curiously. "I don't see how I'd forget. You did a very brave thing that night, Lissa. I don't forget faces very easily. Though you've gotten a bit taller, I see." Her gaze shot to Ed, and she added, "I know I haven't seen you for a while either, Ed, but you've gone and grown smaller!"

Ed glared down at her, incensed. "Granny…you've got it wrong," he told her through gritted teeth. "You're supposed to say, _how big you've grown lately, Ed._ "

Pinako met his glare with a sharp one of her own. "But why would I say something so clearly untrue?"

"I'm still taller than you, mini-hag!"

Lissa felt the disturbance in the air seconds before a wrench flew down and slammed right into the side of Edward's forehead, knocking him flat on his ass. She blinked, stunned, and turned to see a blonde girl about her own age standing on the second-level balcony, scowling down at Ed in frustration. "Edward, I thought I told you to call first when you're heading back here for maintenance!" she yelled.

Ed sat up and rubbed his head, glaring up towards the blonde like he could set her aflame with just his eyes. "Winry! Are you trying to kill me?!" he demanded.

The girl just laughed at him. "Welcome back!" she teased, still giggling to herself.

Pinako didn't seem fazed by the interaction, so Lissa just chalked it up to their usual behavior. She hadn't met Winry when she'd come here last time—but she knew _of_ her, certainly. It'd be weird meeting someone she knew about, but who had no idea about her.

They all went inside then, Alex helpfully carting Alphonse in as well, and set up in the living room. Lissa was studiously trying not to focus on her memories, but it was difficult when even the furniture hadn't changed, when the house still felt more or less the same to her. _At least Mustang isn't here this time. That's a bonus._

Lissa made herself useful by helping Pinako make some tea, trying to feel more like she belonged, and had just brought two cups into the living room and passed one off to Ed when she heard an earsplitting _scream_ from across the room.

" _Oh no!_ "

Winry stood over the decimated remnants of Ed's automail arm, staring down at the shattered pieces in some kind of agony. She looked like she was either going to cry, or hit him with a wrench again.

"Yeah, sorry," Ed mumbled, taking a sip of his tea. "It's a little smashed up."

The girl picked up a couple pieces and clenched them in her hands. "A little smashed up?" she repeated in a hiss. " _A little_ , Ed?! Do you _see_ what you've done to my beautiful creation?! I slaved over this!"

Ed grinned at her and set his tea down. "It's basically the same; it's just in smaller pieces," he chirped.

 _Dummy._

Lissa bit back a laugh as Winry rounded on him with a wrench again, this time knocking him clear off the couch in her wrath. While he lay there, unable to push himself back up, his legs flailing in the air desperately, the blonde jammed her hands on her hips and turned to Al with a dry look on her face. "You a little smashed up too, Al?" she asked sourly. "What kind of trouble have you two been getting yourselves into?"

 _Clang!_

Winry rammed her foot into the side of Al's head, frustrated beyond belief. "You idiots! All you ever do is worry me." Then she sighed, rubbed the back of her head, and flashed a sheepish grin at Lissa. "I'm sorry you had to see that, but it needed to be done."

Lissa raised a hand in surrender. "Nope, I won't argue. They _are_ idiots."

"Traitor," Ed mumbled from the floor.

"Oh! Silly me, I never introduced myself." Winry bounced across the room and smiled widely down at Lissa like they were old friends. "I'm Winry Rockbell. I grew up with these two idiots here. And you're—Lissa, right? Lissa Caito? I remember seeing you when you came here before, but I never got a chance to say hi."

Lissa smiled up at her, surprised by her attitude. "It's weird, but I kind of feel like I know you somehow. The boys talked about you a lot."

Winry shot them a suspicious look. "Oh, did they?"

"Nothing bad, I swear!" Al hurried to say, maybe afraid to take a foot to the face again. "A-all good things, Winry, we promise!"

The blonde laughed and nodded. "Better be." She crossed her arms and leaned her weight back, apparently settling in. "So, you need your arm repaired then, Ed. What kind of timeline are we looking at here? This won't be just a simple adjustment, you know that."

Ed tried to yank his way back onto the couch, but failed miserably, so Lissa took pity on him and helped pull him back up beside her so he could address Winry and Pinako like a normal person. "Yeah, I know," he sighed. "It wasn't gonna be like this, but…we have some information waiting for us in the National Library back in Central, and it's—a really big lead, see. We can't risk missing out on it."

Across the room, Pinako tapped the end of her pipe out and nodded thoughtfully. "All right, I see. In order to get this information you need, you want to go to Central as soon as possible, am I right?"

"Yeah…" He nodded sheepishly. "This is kind of a rush order."

"Well, let's see what we're working with, then."

Obediently, Ed stripped down to his underclothes, shedding the rest and letting Lissa bundle it all up in her backpack for safekeeping. She knew he was picky about what he wore, after all, and she figured it was easier if she held onto it for the time being. Maybe she'd do a little laundry while they were staying in Resembool. They certainly needed it.

When she turned back, though, Lissa couldn't bring herself to sit back down beside Ed. He was in just a couple thin layers of cotton, his automail exposed for all the world to see, and it felt sort of…private, somehow. She'd seen the ports before, naturally, mostly when she bandaged him up after a rough fight—but here in the Rockbells' house, some part of her felt differently about the whole thing. Even the scarring on his thigh was more visible here, thrown into relief by the overhead lights.

Pinako knelt in front of him and grabbed both his legs, holding them against each other thoughtfully. "Hm… It's not just the arm. Your leg needs adjusting too."

Winry snickered and smirked at him. "Guess your growth's not completely stunted after all," she teased.

"Oh, shut up!" Ed snapped back.

Continuing like they'd never spoken, Pinako told him, "The leg aside, with the shape the arm's in we'll have to build it from scratch."

Edward looked down at his lap, seeming uncomfortable somehow. "Is there…any chance you can have it done in a week?" he asked tentatively.

"Give us some credit, Ed." Pinako rose to her feet and grinned at him. "Three days."

Three days to machine an entirely new automail arm? Lissa looked at Winry sideways, stunned by the sheer speed. She knew a bit about automail, just peripherally from being around so many soldiers who had automail of their own, and she'd heard enough griping and complaining about wait times, how long it took for even the simplest of adjustments… Three days for a new arm and adjusted leg was lightning-fast.

With practiced ease, Pinako unlatched Ed's automail leg and slotted a different one into place, this one stiffer and less detailed. "You'll have to make do with this spare for now," she told him, passing his usual leg off to Winry.

Ed got to his feet then—and immediately stumbled on the different leg. Lissa managed to catch him before he fell the whole way, going in on his right side and pressing her hand into his chest. He gave her an embarrassed grin as he leaned into her. "Sorry. It's a little difficult to walk on a leg I'm not used to."

Pinako waved him off. "We'll be finished before you get used to it."

"Three days, huh?" Winry mused, rising to her feet with Ed's leg slung over her shoulder. "Between machining, assembly, connecting, and finishing…" She ticked each item off on her fingers as she went through them, her brow furrowed. "That's three all-nighters."

Lissa suddenly understood exactly how the Rockbells would finish this so quickly.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble," Ed told her softly.

But Winry just turned and beamed at him, unbothered. "Well, you want to get to Central as soon as possible, right?" she asked brightly. "Then I'll work my butt off for you. But you better believe you're gonna pay a _fortune_ in rush order fees!"

The Rockbells headed upstairs to get started, and Lissa helped Ed back to the sofa before fetching his clothes for him. "Will you be all right on that leg?" she asked him curiously, trying her hardest not to stare as he began to get dressed, shuffling his trousers up his legs and arching off the sofa to slide them over his butt. Why was this so _awkward_? He was putting clothes _on_. Lissa wondered at herself sometimes, she really did.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just a bit clunky, that's all. I'm used to something with full articulation." He got up again, a bit steadier this time, and pulled his black jacket on—it was quite a feat, really, the way he used his right shoulder to hold it in place while sliding his left arm in. Impressive.

Alex eyed them from across the room. "What will you do, then?" he asked curiously. "While the Rockbells are working on your automail."

Ed shrugged faintly. "I dunno. There's not much to do around here, honestly… But it's nice out, we should at least sit outside for a while. Don't you think, Al?"

Al bobbed his head. "Sure. Sounds good to me."

Lissa slung Edward's red cloak over her arm and followed him outside, watching him limp down the stairs oh-so-carefully, while Alex brought Al out and freed him from the box, finally. There weren't many options, with his armor still so destroyed, but they found a good place up against some barrels where Al said he'd be fine. Ed flopped out beside him, lying back in the grass with the dog—who Lissa learned was called Den—putting his head on Ed's leg to sleep. She just stretched out beside them, enjoying just being outside like this.

"It's so boring here," Ed muttered, folding his arm behind his head. "There aren't any libraries, there's nothing to do…"

"Yeah, but it's nice to get a break every once in a while," Al pointed out cheerily.

Ed scowled up at the sky. "I don't do well with breaks."

Lissa reached down and scritched Den behind the ears absently, unwilling to admit she understood where he was coming from. It was difficult to sit still after spending so long constantly on the go, constantly seeking new leads and traveling and just…being in motion. Stopping the momentum, even for a few days, felt strange.

"You know… You could go visit mom's grave," Alphonse suggested, looking down at Ed rather intensely.

Ed frowned at him. "But you can't go, not unless you get the Major to carry you."

Al shook his head. "No, I don't want him to do that. It'd be weird. But you should still go, brother. We'll be going straight back to Central as soon as your automail's repaired. You won't have a chance otherwise."

"Yeah… I guess you're right." Ed sighed and sat up, the dog whining at him and rolling away in frustration as he pushed to his feet and stretched his left arm. He stood there a moment, thinking, his gaze faraway and unreadable. Lissa wondered what was in his mind. She agreed with Al, visiting their mother's grave seemed important, she just…worried, that was all.

"Hey, Liss…" Ed looked down at her thoughtfully. "Do you…wanna come with me?"

She sat up slowly, completely shocked by the offer. "Wouldn't that be kind of invasive, though?" she edged.

"No, not at all. Besides, it'd be nice to have someone with me, honestly." He smiled, a soft, almost vulnerable kind of look. "Unless…you don't want to go. Which, I mean, I don't want to force you or something."

 _He really wants me to go with him,_ she realized. With that in mind, Lissa stood up and nodded firmly. "I just didn't want to intrude, that's all. But I'm happy to go with you, Ed, honest." She grabbed his cloak from where he'd left it and held it out for him to slip his left arm into, figuring she could help him with it this time, at least. He looked like he might be blushing as she pulled it up his shoulders and tugged it into place, but she wasn't sure.

"Be safe," Alphonse told them, looking a bit forlorn where he sat.

Lissa smiled and kissed the top of his head. "We will, Al. Promise. I'll bring your brother back in one piece."

Ed wrinkled his nose. "Was that a joke?"

"No, dummy," she laughed. "Come on. Wasn't there a little flower cart just down the lane a bit? We can pick something up on our way." Lissa took his arm to help him along, and with Den at their heels, the two set off from the automail shop.

"It's weird, being back here," Ed admitted as they walked. "I haven't been here in three years."

"I haven't been to my hometown since I was seven," she pointed out, gently as she could. "You and Al have this…task you've set yourselves on, so I mean, I can't say I blame you. I know how focused you two get. It'd be hard to just…step outside that by coming back here all the time."

He shrugged his good shoulder faintly. "I dunno… I think Granny and Winry are upset about it, even though they won't say it outright."

"I don't know about upset. Worried, maybe." Lissa grinned at him. "Winry was definitely worried, though…she does have a funny way of showing it, with the wrenches and all. Speaking of, how's your head?"

Edward winced. "Don't remind me."

—

The sun was beginning to set by the time they reached the small cemetery. Ed had adjusted to his temporary leg well enough to hobble around on his own, so when they got there, Lissa stood back a little bit to give him privacy. From her vantage point, though, she could still see the headstone. _Trisha Elric. 1878-1904._ She was only twenty-six, Lissa realized with a jolt. Still so young… What could've happened to her? There was no possible way it was a natural death, not at that age… And it meant Ed had only been five years old at the time, and Al four. So _young_.

Though she herself had only been seven. Just two years older than Ed.

 _No wonder they wanted to bring her back… They were just kids, left all alone… If I'd been left on my own, I might've tried the same thing. I can't ever blame them for something I understand. What child wouldn't try to bring their mother back, if they believed they could?_

Lissa stepped up beside Edward and put her arm around his shoulders, wordlessly pulling him into her side. The boys weren't alone now. She'd never let them feel so alone again.

"Here," he murmured, finally lifting his gaze and looking elsewhere—towards a hill overlooking the cemetery, with what looked like a burned tree standing up like a signpost, its silhouette harsh against the sunset. "I want to show you something."

She followed him out of the cemetery without question, staying close to his side as he led her up the hill, his gaze set and determined. Lissa didn't know what to expect—but whatever she might've come up with, it wasn't _this_. The burned tree stood above the charred remnants of what used to be the Elrics' house. Lissa didn't know how she hadn't recognized it before… Though her specific memories of the place were so tarnished by what she'd seen inside, and her whole focus had changed once she'd seen the boys.

"This was your house, wasn't it?" she murmured. "I remember… It was raining so hard that night, everything looked different, but I still remember it…"

Ed nodded slowly. "Yeah. It was." He hooked his thumb into his pocket and sighed deeply. "We can't turn back now, Liss. We can't give up. Al and I…we didn't want to give ourselves a single chance to doubt our conviction. Sometimes I wonder…if it was the right decision. Burning our house down was the hardest thing we've ever done, maybe the hardest thing we ever _will_ do… But I can't make myself regret it. Does that make me a terrible person?"

Lissa took his hand gently, sliding her fingers between his and pulling him in closer. "No. It doesn't, Ed. Only you and Alphonse could decide what felt right, after what happened… Nobody else has any right to tell you what you should've done. Nobody else knows what it was like to go through what you did."

"Would you have done it?" he asked her quietly. "In our place. Would you have done what we did?"

She tightened her fingers on him, just a bit. "Which part?"

"All of it."

Lissa leaned her head over onto his shoulder and sighed. "I think I'd be lying if I said no. I didn't have the same resources…and my home was destroyed by the time the military found me, but… Yeah. I really think I would've."

He tilted his head to lean on hers, and this close, she could hear him breathing, feel the faint shifting in the air every time he exhaled. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to upset you."

"You didn't," she denied, smiling. "I dunno, it's stupid maybe, but…it makes me feel better to know we're in the same headspace. It makes me feel less crazy, just knowing somebody else feels the same way."

Ed chuckled softly. "Yeah, I know what you mean." He stood up straight and met her gaze, now smiling faintly. "We should head back."

Lissa wrapped her arm around his waist and nodded. "Lead the way."


	12. Unexpected Paths

So, I recognize that quite a bit of this looks like 'filler,' but it's a lot of relationship-building and to be honest, I enjoyed writing this a lot? Funny thing, I actually ship EdWin really hard (I have a running joke with my wife that I'm Ed, and she's Winry) so I have absolutely nothing against Winry's character. She gets a little spotlight here, and I was really really excited to develop a bit of her relationship with Lissa too, since that connection felt important to me. So with that said, I hope you enjoy this one!

* * *

Although she liked to think she was pretty socially comfortable, after all the state alchemists and soldiers and whatnot she'd met throughout her life…Lissa was _not_. She didn't like crowds, she didn't like meeting new people, and she didn't like those awkward _getting-to-know-you_ initial conversations either. So why she'd volunteered to bring dinner up for Winry, she had no idea. She guessed she just…did want to get to know the girl a bit better, since she was so close with Ed and Al, but standing outside Winry's door, Lissa felt there _had_ to have been a better way.

Still. She was stuck in it now.

Lissa sighed and knocked on the door, figuring she had no option other than to just go for it now. She'd well and truly screwed herself over.

"Come in!"

She pushed the door open and stuck her head around, offering a smile as Winry looked up at her. "Oh, Lissa." Winry pushed her goggles up on her head and beamed. "Come on in. I'm sorry about the mess, my workstation gets a bit crazy when I'm doing a rush order like this."

"It's more like organized chaos," Lissa observed, stepping inside. "I brought you dinner—Pinako said you wouldn't come out to eat otherwise, so I thought I'd bring it up."

The blonde looked surprisingly touched. "Aw, that's sweet. You didn't have to do that."

Lissa waved her off and set the bowl on the edge of her workspace, careful not to disturb any of the various bits of metal, screws, and tools spread out there. "I'm so used to looking after the boys, honestly. It's no trouble. Besides, I'm kind of just freeloading here while you do all this work."

"Freeloading," Winry scoffed. "That's hardly it." She absently took a bite of the stew Pinako had made and pushed her goggles back down, returning to her work—but it didn't seem like a dismissal. "You know… I said I remembered seeing you, when you were here before… But that's not quite it…" She pursed her lips for a moment. "I mean, I _did_ see you, but…that's not why I remembered you. There was so much going on then, Granny and I were still worried about Ed making it or not, and then those soldiers showed up… Granny sent me out of the room, but I snuck back and looked. I saw what that—that Colonel did to Edward. And I saw you defend him."

So Winry had seen that… Lissa leaned into the wall beside the door, watching her thoughtfully. Why was she telling her all this?

"I was so scared… I know _why_ the Colonel was angry, but it seemed so awful at the time… I was just too afraid to say anything, I think Granny might've been too, even though she'd never say it. But you…you stood up to him, Lissa. You didn't even know Ed and you came running in like the most important thing ever was to protect him then." Winry looked back up at her, tipping her goggles back for a moment to offer a kind, genuine smile. "I never forgot that. I thought it was the bravest thing I'd ever seen."

Lissa shook her head faintly, embarrassed by the whole thing. "It wasn't. I was already kind of upset at Mustang for a few things that night, and I just…snapped. I didn't _feel_ brave. I felt terrified. But I guess it just…didn't matter as much, when I saw how badly he'd been hurt. I don't know." She shrugged off the awkwardness forcibly. "Ever since then, I've been determined to look after them. Which I sort of failed at the other night, I guess."

Winry turned back to her worktable, where she was beginning to work on what looked like the connectors for the fingers of Ed's automail. "Lissa… Can I ask you what happened that night? How did Ed and Al end up like this?"

"I'm…not exactly allowed to say much," Lissa admitted, feeling bad that she couldn't just explain it all. "I'm not quite military but I am a ward of the state, and I'm technically Ed's trainee, so I have to follow the same rules as everyone else, but… They were attacked, by somebody really awful. It could've been a lot worse, honestly, after the fact I feel kinda lucky just to be here."

She froze up when Winry sniffled just a bit, like she was holding back tears. "I'm sorry," Winry murmured. "Ed always makes fun of me for crying all the time… It's just hard, never seeing them and then…having them come home like this…" She passed a hand over her face and sighed. "You'll take care of them, won't you? I know it's a lot to ask, they get into so much trouble, they always have, but… It'd make me feel better knowing you have their backs."

Lissa stared down at the ground and smiled. It was touching, to have this much faith put into her. "Of course I will, Winry. I promise."

—

 _Ugh…I hate waking up in the middle of the night._

Lissa yawned and rolled out of bed, waving at Al as she stood, who was sitting at the foot of Edward's bed. He liked staying in their room at night, even though he couldn't sleep. "Restroom break," she explained to him through another yawn, padding out of the room quietly. Down the hall, she could hear Winry still hard at work, some kind of drill or buffer making a dull buzzing sound even through the closed door. It was kind of comforting, somehow.

She returned from the bathroom and sat down on the edge of her bed for a moment, conscious that it wasn't _hers_. It had been Alphonse's, when the boys were younger and shared this very bedroom. He swore up and down he didn't mind her taking it, but she still felt…strange about it, somehow. Intrusive. Like she was stealing it from him.

"You should sleep more," Al advised her, lifting his head to look at her. His eyes were glowing softly, which could be creepy—but at this point, it was a welcome sight. She'd woken up from plenty of nightmares in the pitch-black darkness, with only Al's eyes to show her she wasn't alone.

Lissa nodded. "I will, promise. I'll pass out today if I don't get a little more rest."

Across the room, Ed shifted and mumbled something in his sleep, and Lissa saw the blanket slide off his torso. She rolled her eyes and got up again, crossing the room to pull the blanket back up over him. But as she approached, finally able to see his face in the moonlight, she realized he was…sweating, covered in chills, his breath coming in soft hitches, brow furrowed in what had to be a pretty awful nightmare.

"Is brother okay?" Al asked quietly, trying to tilt and see him.

"He's…having a nightmare, I think," she told him. "I'm not sure if it'll pass or if I should wake him…"

Ed's face contorted, and he let out a sort of strangled, quiet cry, which made the decision for her instantly. Lissa leaned down and brushed his bangs out of his face, smoothing her hand across his hair while her other hand rested on his shoulder to keep him from leaping up or rolling straight out of bed. She knew how to handle this by now. "Wake up, Ed… It's okay, you're just having a nightmare, it's not real…" When he didn't stir immediately, she shook him just gently, knowing if she startled him too badly he'd wake up thinking he was being attacked.

He jolted into her restraining hand with a gasp, gold eyes flicking around wildly for a moment until he realized where he was, and recognition dawned on his face. "Liss," he whispered, letting out a harsh breath.

Lissa nodded and rested her hand on his face, her thumb stroking across his cheekbone. "It's just me," she reassured him softly. "You were having a nightmare, I didn't want to leave you stuck in it."

He swallowed hard, leaning into her hand and just trying to get his breathing under control. "Sorry… I didn't mean to wake you up," Ed mumbled. He closed his eyes and she saw a tremor run through him, the remnant of whatever he'd been seeing.

"You didn't, I was up already," she explained, shaking her head. "Are you gonna be okay? That seemed…pretty bad, to me."

Ed nodded, though the movement was jerky and unsteady. "I'll be fine."

Lissa considered that a moment—then she shook her head and straightened up. "Scoot over."

His eyes shot wide. "Er—what?"

"Scoot over, dummy." Lissa made a shooing motion with her hands, and he scooted towards the wall, still looking baffled and confused. At least he trusted her enough to listen without continuing to question her. Once he'd made enough space, she pushed the blankets back and crawled in beside him, resting her head on the edge of the pillow and draping her arm across him. "You know as well as I do you might just go back into more nightmares," she told him gently. "This way, if that does happen, I'll be right here to help."

Ed's face turned bright red. "L-Lissa… You don't need to do this," he mumbled, shifting awkwardly underneath her arm.

She curbed the desire to roll her eyes at him. He was still recovering, after all. "I know I don't have to. But I want to help. It's not like we haven't shared a bed before, right? What's the big deal?" Lissa stuffed her other arm underneath the pillow for comfort, making her intention to stay very clear. "Just sleep, Ed. It's okay, we both need to."

He sighed wearily, but nodded anyway and settled down into the mattress, his eyes fluttering shut almost immediately. Lissa kept herself awake by force, waiting until his breathing had evened out and she knew he was asleep, and only then did she close her own eyes and let herself drift off. But just before she fell asleep completely, she heard a quiet little voice from the foot of the bed. "Thank you, Lissa," Al whispered.

Lissa awoke still exhausted, with morning light streaming in the window—no doubt she was tired from the middle-of-the-night wakeup. But she didn't mind. It was always worth it to help Ed.

She went to get up, almost forgetting she wasn't alone, but a warm weight on her chest stopped her. Lissa blinked her sleep-blurred eyes until her vision cleared, and then looked down to see Ed still fast asleep, his good arm draped across her and his head on her shoulder, mouth parted slightly, his loose hair a complete mess. It was… _cute._

Her heart stuttered in her chest. No, it wasn't _cute_. Puppies and kittens were cute, but not him, Edward Elric was…

 _Just stop before you give yourself a heart attack._

Sighing, Lissa shook him awake, watching as he peered around in confusion. When he noticed how close they were, Ed turned red as a cherry and pushed up from her as best he could, stuttering out an apology. "I didn't know I'd done that," he mumbled.

She just laughed and ruffled his hair. "No harm done." Lissa climbed out of bed and stretched both arms towards the ceiling, trying to regain some kind of composure while he shuffled out behind her. They'd shared back in Central only a few days ago, this was hardly any different. And Lissa would _not_ get bent out of shape because of a _boy_. Especially not Ed.

"Ugh, my hair's a mess," he complained from across the room, where he'd hobbled over to look in the mirror. He wasn't wrong—his golden-blond hair was all kinds of messy, shot through with tangles and generally all over the place.

Al laughed and nodded his agreement. "You kind of look like a porcupine," he teased. "But less spiky, more…fluffy."

"Shut up," Ed grumbled. "Man, I can't go downstairs like this, Granny'll make fun of me forever."

Lissa folded her arms and grinned at him. "I'll make you a deal. I'll handle your hair, if you let me cut like…a few centimeters off once we get back to Central."

Ed's jaw dropped. "A few _centimeters_?! Why?!"

"Because, dummy, it's getting too long. And I can see the ends fraying from here." Lissa rolled her eyes—he was _so_ stubborn about his hair. "A few centimeters isn't much, and it'll keep it from tangling like this too." She wiggled her fingers at him and added, "I promise I won't hack it up. I have really steady hands, so I used to cut some of the other kids' hair back at the institution." _The only thing I was good for._

"Mmh…" He tugged at a lock of his hair and pouted at her. "Fine. But if you ruin it, I'll cut all your hair off in your sleep."

Lissa just laughed him off. "Fair." She pointed to the chair by the dresser and told Ed to sit down, which he did, still pouting just a bit, though he wasn't arguing anymore, at least. Lissa followed him over and picked up his red hair tie from the dresser, where he'd abandoned it the night before, sliding it on her wrist before grabbing up his old wooden hairbrush and getting to work. She took a section of his hair between her fingers and pinched down near the roots, holding it in place, then began working her way from the bottom up. It took her a moment to realize Ed was tense, crazy tense, with his face screwed up and his shoulders scrunched—but when she noticed she paused immediately. "Am I hurting you?" she asked. She hoped not…she'd been taking all the precautions…

He winced and looked up at her sheepishly. "No. Sorry, Liss, I'm just used to it hurting to brush it when it's this bad."

"That's because you brush it like an idiot," she told him bluntly. "I won't hurt you, okay? Just…relax. Enjoy it, too. Once you have your arm back, I'm not gonna be your personal attendant anymore, dummy."

Ed grinned and did as she said, relaxing into the chair as she started up again. "Even if I pay you?"

"…I'm rethinking what I said about not hurting you."

"Sorry, sorry!"

Lissa smirked and went back to working on his hair, carefully brushing through all the tangles and returning it to its usual soft, golden state. "You aren't fluffy anymore," she told him brightly, once she was finished. "Do you want me to braid it for you?"

He peered up at her in surprise. "You'd do that for me?"

 _What wouldn't I do for you?_

"'Course. I know it'd make you feel more like yourself, you hardly ever have your hair down." Lissa didn't wait for another confirmation—she just went ahead and did it anyway, dividing it carefully into three equal sections, and then deftly braiding down to the end. She tied it off at the bottom and squeezed his shoulders before backing up to let him stand. "There. All done."

Ed popped up and swung the braid over his shoulder immediately, smiling as he caught the end between his fingers. "Thanks, Lissa."

He really did seem to feel better like that, she noted, even as she returned the smile. At least she could help him somehow, considering he was stuck without his arm until Winry finished. It had to be frustrating, given that he was so used to doing everything for himself, having his independence. "No problem." Lissa stretched her fingers absently and told him, "I'm gonna go find some breakfast, and Winry agreed if I bring her food I can watch her work and learn a bit more, so that's my day shot. You boys just have to amuse yourselves."

"I think we can manage," Al laughed.

Ed looked stunned, though. "How the hell did you convince her to do _that_? Winry hates people hovering over her while she works!"

"Maybe she just hates _you_ doing that," Lissa teased, smirking. "I have express orders not to let you follow me in, actually."

"So not fair," Ed grumbled.

Lissa just rolled her eyes and snagged his wrist, tugging him towards the door after her. "Come on. We'll find something to eat and track down Alex, too, so you can come join us, Al. Sound good? I don't like you being stuck up here."

"Thanks, Lissa," Alphonse murmured, sounding touched.

She gave him a little friendly wave as she pulled Ed out. Poor kid. The sooner Winry got Ed's automail finished, the better.

—

"How exactly does this…become mobile?" Lissa asked curiously, standing over Winry's shoulder. Despite her warnings, Ed had been thrown out a few times for the exact same thing—but Lissa was politer in her curiosity. Rather than pestering about how quickly Winry was working, she just wanted to know a little bit more about how automail worked. She wasn't familiar with the details of it, and some part of her thought maybe she could help Ed take better care of his if she expanded her knowledge. Once she'd confirmed with Winry that she didn't mind Lissa hovering, she'd started passing more time in the workroom/bedroom, watching the arm coming together. Today, the morning of the third day, it actually looked like an arm, instead of several _pieces_ of an arm, which was impressive to see. When she'd gone to bed the night before it still looked kind of…incomplete.

Winry didn't look up from where she was attaching some kind of wiring to the wrist joint. "All these wires connect to an interface that hooks up to the port, the metal attached to Ed's body. The port is hardwired into his nervous system, so it acts as the go-between for the actual nerves and he artificial ones in here to _talk_ , in a way. But automail doesn't register pain—the connection only allows for movement, which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the situation."

"And it hurts to connect, right? That's what I've heard from the soldiers I know who have automail themselves." That much made her uncomfortable, honestly, that getting automail put on caused the wearer serious pain.

"It does. You'll see when we attach Ed's later on, but…" Winry twisted her mouth up unhappily. "It's not pretty. He handles it better than anyone else I've seen, though. Some grown men whine about it so much, but Ed just kind of…suffers through."

"Oh." Lissa frowned at the arm, almost angry with it for no good reason. "He's stronger than most, that's for sure."

Winry nodded absently. "He is. Usually the rehabilitation and physical therapy required to actually use automail takes about three years, especially for multiple replacements at once, but he did it in a single year. I can't even imagine how painful it was, and I watched him do it, I helped him with the whole thing." She finished with the wires and moved on to adjusting the elbow joint, testing the flexibility and rapping a few times on the paneling just below it with the end of a wrench. "I'm glad he can't feel pain through this arm," she admitted quietly. "That means he didn't have to feel it being destroyed."

Lissa had a flash of that night—the deep, searing pain in her abdomen as she pulled Ed into her, trying desperately to protect him from Scar, from _dying_ —and sucked in a shuddering breath. "Yeah," she murmured. "Me too."

"Whatever happened in that attack…it was bad, I know that. I hope you three never have to go through something like that again." Winry sighed and closed the panel to the elbow joint, screwing the cover into place and leaning back in her chair. "Well, that's it. Oh, man, I'm gonna sleep for a whole week after this…"

"I think it's amazing what you do," Lissa told her honestly, stepping away as Winry stood and stretched her back out. "Seriously. I couldn't do anything like it."

The blonde grinned at her. "Well, I can't do alchemy, so we're even. Ed mentioned you have some specialized kind of alchemy, right? Can I ask what it is? None of that stuff makes sense to me, honestly, but I do try and understand a bit…even if he'd never give me credit for that."

Lissa tugged her gloves off, a bit hesitantly, and stuffed them into her pocket before displaying her hands for Winry to see. "Most of what I do isn't quite as physical as what you've probably seen Ed and Al doing, so I got these tattooed a while ago to make it easier. I work in what's called intangible elements, which really just means small particles and gases, things most alchemists can't actually sense very well, let alone manipulate." She touched her palms together and then pushed her hands outward, feeling out the smallest particles of metal lingering around them—then Lissa pulled those particles together with a single twisting motion of her hands, forming a perfect sphere in the palm of her hand. Then, with another burst of blue energy, she formed it into the image of a tiny flower. "It looks more impressive than it is," she admitted as Winry gawked at her, and placed the little flower down on the worktable like she wanted to be rid of it. "You've been doing so much drilling, there's tons of steel and chrome lingering around that I can work with."

"It _is_ impressive," Winry argued back, tossing Ed's arm over her shoulder and planting her free hand on her hip. "Alchemy is so strange to me… I can take things apart and put them back together, as long as I have all the right tools, but reforming the way an alchemist does… It's strange to me. And I guess I just don't like all the militaristic uses of it, either."

"Mh, tell me about it," Lissa sighed, nodding. "I've heard that in other places, alchemy isn't a weapon—it can be medicinal too, and used for construction, repairs, things like that. It's just…all military, here in Amestris." She pointed at the arm dangling over Winry's shoulder. "Well, should we get that down to Ed before he goes completely crazy? I'm all for letting him stew a while, but he gets into trouble when he's bored…"

Winry laughed and nodded. Then she reached out and linked arms with Lissa, startling her, though the blonde either didn't notice her surprise or ignored it. "Good point. Come on, let's go put him out of his misery."

They collected Ed from outside, and reconvened in the living room, where he sat on the couch while Winry and Pinako lined up both his missing limbs. Lissa settled down beside him, curious and anxious now that she knew it would hurt. And sure enough, she could see sweat beading along Ed's brow, his shoulders tense while both Rockbells prepared to do the final attachments.

"Ready?" Pinako asked.

Ed grimaced and gritted his teeth. "Ngh… Yeah…"

Pinako nodded. "On one…"

"Two…" Winry continued, her jaw set in concentration.

Lissa's hand shot out and grabbed onto Edward's, just as Winry and Pinako announced, "Three!" She immediately felt him clench down on her, his muscles trembling with the effort as he cried out in pain, his whole body jolting in a sudden burst of agony. When the moment passed, he released his iron grip on Lissa's hand and bowed his head, panting hard. "That's the worst part every time," he muttered. "When the nerves have to connect like that." He glanced sideways at Lissa and attempted to crook one corner of his mouth up, putting on a brave front. She spotted it instantly. "Once we have the Philosopher's Stone, I can kiss that pain goodbye!"

"Our biggest source of income," Pinako observed, still tightening something down on his leg. "I'll be sad to see you go." She yanked her tool sideways, hard, and Ed suddenly gripped down on Lissa's hand again and yelped in pain.

Winry scowled down at his arm. "Hold still," she chided him. "Ugh… Do you want me to do this right or not?"

As Ed cried out yet again, Winry sighed and looked up at the ceiling, her gaze turning faraway and dreamy. "It's just so lovely," she breathed with a dopey sort of grin. "The smell of oil, the hum of the ball bearings! The rugged yet amazingly beautiful form created through anatomical engineering! How wonderful you are, my automail…"

Lissa pressed her free hand over her mouth and stifled a laugh. And she thought alchemists were bad!

"Crazy gearhead," Ed muttered derisively.

Winry sneered at him. "You're lost without me, alchemy freak."

"All right, we're done," Pinako told him, cutting across the potential argument before it even began. "Well? How does it feel?"

Ed hopped up eagerly from the couch and began stretching, first his arms over his head—and then his leg, propped up against the wall and nearly touching his face. Lissa stood up after him and rolled her eyes. The dummy had forgotten to put his shirt on, and it was…distracting, for want of a better word. She carefully stared at his head, rather than the all-too visible muscles of his abs.

Lissa swallowed hard and went to find one of his undershirts in her backpack. This was just going to end badly.

"Yeah, it feels good," Ed confirmed behind her.

"I increased the percentage of chrome this time, so it should be less prone to rusting," Winry began, explaining a bit of what she'd already told Lissa earlier, assuming—rightly—that Lissa was more likely to actually pay attention. "The tradeoff is that it's not quite as strong, so don't try anything crazy—HEY! Listen up!" She turned in shock as Ed took off running out the front door, still shirtless and yelling for Al.

Lissa sighed and stood up, clutching one of his light blue undershirts in her hands. "I've got it, Winry," she assured her with a grin. "I'm gonna go make the shirtless wonder get dressed before he blinds us all with his paleness."

She left the Rockbells and Alex—who had shown up at some point, she didn't know when—inside and followed Ed outside, to where he was carefully amassing all the pieces they'd brought along of Al's armor. He needed everything he could get his hands on for repairs like this, she knew, because any missing metal had to be made up for by thinning the armor itself. Not exactly the best option, if they could help it. And Ed was too worried about ruining the blood seal to risk adding foreign materials to the mix.

"Hey, dummy!" she called, jogging across the lawn to him. When he looked up at her, she tossed his shirt right into his face, making him drop backwards into the grass and flail around like she'd stuck an octopus to his face. "Put a shirt on, you're practically naked, you know."

Ed freed himself from the shirt and gave her a haughty look. "This is my natural state, thank you very much."

Lissa rolled her eyes and sat down beside him, resting back on her hands. "We aren't a nudist colony. So unless you'd like to create one—including Alex, since he's coming back to Central with us—I suggest you put the shirt on."

He shuddered and tugged the shirt over his head.

"Here, let me help," she offered once that was finished, rolling to her knees and grabbing the bag of armor pieces Ed had been selecting from. "Some of this is a bit damaged…" Lissa observed with a frown, as she dug through.

Ed raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah. It's all shattered into bits."

"No, I mean… Some of the metal has actually been affected," she explained. She grabbed one of the pieces she'd sensed it in and held it out to show him, pointing out the discoloration and warping on the surface. "See? The integrity might be compromised here. I know how careful you have to be, but if I'm really cautious and I work with it when it's not actually connected to the blood seal, I might be able to salvage some of it." Lissa looked between the boys uncertainly. "If you trust me to do it, I mean. I understand if not."

"I trust you, Lissa," Alphonse told her firmly. "I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me or put me at risk."

She smiled at him. "Thanks, Al."

Ed nodded his agreement. "Yeah, you're about the only other person I'd trust to handle any of Al's armor. If you think you can get us more metal to work with, go for it."

Lissa felt a ripple of anxiety—this was a lot of trust they were putting into her, but she did sense things like this, it was what her alchemy tended towards… These microscopic particles that most alchemists couldn't feel out or use, not in the way she did. It was her specialty. So Lissa removed her gloves, which she'd put back on after her little demonstration for Winry, and took the piece of broken metal in both hands. She knew the general makeup of Al's armor, and what ought to be there in the first place would be in greater quantities than any foreign particles that had gotten attached during the fight, so it wasn't too difficult to _find_ the elements that didn't belong. The difficult part would be separating them without ruining the actual piece of armor itself.

She closed her eyes and focused hard, blue energy crackling around her hands as she began to slowly piece out the atoms that didn't belong. It was slow going at first, until she began to see the pattern of elements and became familiar with specifically what she needed to pull out. After a little, Lissa felt confident enough—and with a single pull of her hand, yanked all the foreign particles out at once.

"There," she announced, tipping the dust out of her hand and passing the metal across to Ed. "How's that?"

Ed assessed it a moment before grinning. "Feels right to me."

"I'll get to work on the rest of it, then," she told him brightly. "I'm just glad I can help, honestly, I know how dangerous it can get stretching the armor."

Al reached up with his good arm and patted her head, making her laugh and bat him away. "Thanks, Lissa. You don't have to go through all that trouble for me, you know."

"Yeah, but you're worth it," she told him absently, not missing the little jolt that ran through him at her words. But it was true. It wasn't _that_ much effort, now that she knew what she was doing—and Alphonse was definitely worth doing it for.

While Lissa worked, Alex came out to watch, probably curious about the process considering hardly anyone got to see Ed work on Al like this. It didn't take her too long to finish up, and soon enough Ed had lined up and counted every bit of armor they had, set them up touching each other, confirmed with her it was all in good condition, and was ready to go.

"You can fix him right here?" Alex asked curiously.

"Yup," Ed confirmed, bobbing his head. "You have to know the trick to it, though." He carefully lifted Al's helmet off and shifted aside. "Major, you see that seal on the inside of his back? That's the medium between Al's soul and the armor, so I have to be sure not to ruin it." Ed bounced to his feet, clapped his hands together, and pressed them to Al's chest. The armor reformed before their eyes, and Lissa marveled, as always, at the care and attention to detail that went into it. Ed even reformed the spikes on Al's shoulders—unnecessary, but he cared _so_ much that he couldn't just leave them out.

Lissa knew what was coming, so she grinned and stood back as the boys quickly leapt into a sparring match, surprising Alex to say the least. "This is just how they work out the kinks," she explained to him. "Ed's testing his automail and Al's getting the armor used to moving again. Plus, they know each other's limits, they won't really hurt each other."

"I see. This is just their way of reassuring themselves everything is all right, then," he mused. "A fine method."

"Hey, Liss!"

She barely managed to duck in time to avoid the automail foot flying at her face, her body flickering in blue energy as she shifted between particles, lending herself speed. Lissa just laughed, rolling forward and racing down the hill, as Ed chased her. "You know I'm faster than you!" she teased, darting back out of reach in another burst of alchemical energy.

Ed grinned fiercely as he crouched, swept his leg out, and tried to knock her legs out from under her. She jumped over the limb and flipped right over his head, using his shoulders as a push-off point. The moment her feet landed on solid ground she feinted left and ducked in to the right, underneath Ed's swing, and rammed her palm into his chest. He rolled with the hit, skidding to his feet and pushing right back up at her. Lissa abandoned the use of her alchemy to make it fair, instead choosing to actually spar with him, parrying his blows and focusing specifically on his right to let him get a feel for his automail. They were pretty evenly matched, having spent three years sparring now, usually switching off victories or ending without a clear winner.

Lissa jerked backwards onto the ball of her left foot, avoiding a blow from his left arm—he had a damned _wicked_ left hook—and bounced straight forward again, swinging her right leg up and wrapping it over his automail. Ed's eyes went wide as he realized she'd pinned him. "Oops," he laughed.

She smirked. "You'll get me next time."

"Or…"

He leapt into the air, dragging her partway with him, and dislodged his arm from her grasp. She wobbled on one leg for a second too long, giving him time to knock her legs out from under her and drop her flat on her back. Lissa lay there laughing as he sat on her hips, pinning her without agitating the still-healing wound in her stomach, and pressed her arms into the ground. "Maybe I'll get you this time," Ed finished triumphantly.

She rolled her eyes up at him, breathless with laughter and exhilaration. "Good one," she told him, smirking. "A bit dirty, but you always fight dirty."

"Eh, you really had me there," he admitted easily. "In a real fight you would've just snapped my automail. So, we both win."

Lissa shifted underneath him, wanting to free herself—only to realize, very abruptly, that he was sitting _on her hips_. It was a…compromising position, to say the least. And her stupid teenage hormones didn't know how to handle it. She looked up at him, intending to make some snide joke to get him to move, only to see her own embarrassment reflected in his bright red face.

 _Well… This is awkward._

"Um, brother? You can let her up now," Al reminded him, oh-so helpfully.

Ed leapt up quickly, rubbing his hand over the back of his head and grinning. "Whoops. Sorry, Liss. Here." He stuck out his automail hand to help her up, and she took it gratefully, glad it wasn't his flesh hand. That way he couldn't feel how warm she'd suddenly gotten.

"Well, that seems to be in working order," she observed, pointing at his arm. "So, Central tomorrow?"

"You bet. First thing tomorrow morning." Ed turned towards the house with a gleam in his eyes. "But first… _Food._ "

—

Dinner was an enjoyable affair, a real _family_ dinner like Lissa hadn't had in years. She only vaguely remembered actually having dinners with her parents like this—but she knew the feeling, the warmth all the way down to her toes, smiling until her face hurt, laughing so hard her voice nearly went hoarse… Yet by the end, when desserts were being passed around and the evening was winding down, Lissa suddenly felt…overwhelmed. She quickly excused herself before it could get too bad, and stepped into the next room to compose herself.

What _was_ it? Why did it feel like too much all of a sudden? She wasn't really sure, except that maybe the reminder of what she'd lost was too much… But that wasn't it either, not exactly. Her blanked-out memories were usually enough protection against that stuff. So then why…?

"Lissa?" Quick footsteps announced Ed's presence moments before he walked through the doorway, looking at her curiously, his posture easy and unworried. "There you are. Granny made pie, I was gonna see if you wanted any. Are you…" His eyebrows furrowed. "Hey, Liss… Are you okay?"

How had he seen that in her so quickly? "I'm okay, Ed. Sorry, I just…needed a minute, that's all."

He didn't believe that for a second, though, she could tell. "You don't have to pretend… What's up? Talk to me, c'mon." Ed crossed the room and sat down on the couch, patting the spot beside him hopefully.

Lissa didn't know how to resist that—so she followed him and sat down there, folding her arms over her stomach and staring down at her lap.

"Liss…" Ed bumped her shoulder with his own. "What's going on? You were fine until a few minutes ago. Did something happen?"

"No, nothing happened." She pressed her face into her hands and sighed. "I just…got overwhelmed, that's all. I'm not used to this kind of thing, Ed. I barely remember my own parents, let alone having family dinners like this… It's just…weird. And I don't feel like I belong here, this is _your_ past—I'm just an-"

He cut her off firmly. "If you say _interloper_ , I'm gonna smack you," he threatened. "Listen to me. You belong here, okay? You belong with me and Al, and Winry and Granny, even the Major—you're part of this family now whether you like it or not. You're part of _our_ family, Liss."

She stifled a sob. How could he mean that? Lissa had felt like that with just the boys, sure, when they were out traveling… But here… This was their past, their lives outside the military, and she couldn't see how she had a place here. It just didn't make sense to her. She'd lived so long feeling transient, like everything she was doing was just to bide her time until she took her exams and made her own life, but… That had all changed when she fell in with Ed and Al. Even so, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was just temporary, and she'd eventually have to bow out of their lives.

Ed's arms wrapped around her, startling her into dropping her hands from her face, but he just pulled her into his chest and rested his chin atop her head. He was so _warm_ … Lissa felt her cheeks flush as she leaned into him, surprised he was doing this. They were both pretty free with physical contact, but he so rarely just…held her this way… Despite her lingering embarrassment, it felt… _right_.

"You can be so stupid, you know that?" he told her softly. It wasn't even offensive, somehow. "As if you belong anywhere but here, with us. I dunno if Al and I technically belong back here anymore, not after what we did, but we're still welcomed like family… And now you're our family too, mine and Al's. You belong here as much as we do. Dammit, Lissa. Do you actually think I— _we'd_ let you go, after everything we've been through?"

Lissa closed her eyes and fisted her hand into his shirt. "No," she admitted quietly, her voice unsteady. "I'm sorry, Ed, I really am… It's just…difficult to come around to the idea that I…have somewhere I belong, besides the facility in Central. That was all I had for a long time."

"Yeah, well never again, you hear me?" His voice came out almost harsh—but really just passionate, firm enough to make her open her eyes and look up at him. From her angle, she could see his face, the fierceness there, the intensity…but she could also see the pulse point in his neck, hear his heartbeat thudding in his chest…

 _He's…beautiful, when he looks like this,_ she thought to herself, feeling her own heartbeat race, betraying her. _And handsome… And I sound like a stupid teenager, but it's…true…_

The urge to stretch up and press her lips against where his pulse jumped in his neck shocked her, stunned the breath right from her lungs. What the _hell_? This was Edward, one of her best friends, not…not somebody she wanted to…

 _Kiss…_

She swallowed and closed her eyes tightly. It was just the vulnerability of the moment, that was all. Goodness, it wasn't as though she actually felt like that on a daily basis. Ridiculous.

"Thank you," Lissa murmured, sitting upright just as soon as her head stopped spinning. "Really, Ed. Thank you. I… It means a lot, you know… For you to call me family… I haven't had a family in a long, long time."

He grinned crookedly at her, unaware of her moment of weakness. "You do now." Then he yawned, belatedly covering his mouth, and she realized for the first time that it was probably crazy exhausting to get automail attached, especially considering how painful it seemed. He had to be _so_ tired after that.

"Here." Lissa scooted back to the middle cushion and patted her lap. "I know you, dummy, you won't make it upstairs when you're this tired. Just get some rest, Al can take you up later on." She knew his brother wouldn't mind, not if it meant getting Edward to sleep in an actual bed for the night instead of on the couch.

Ed smiled and did as she asked without question, resting his head in her lap and closing his eyes. "See? _Family_. You feel it too, don't you, Liss?" he asked her sleepily.

"Of course I do," she admitted, stroking her fingers through his bangs absently. "Being afraid that nobody else feels that way is half of the reason why I was so anxious about it, really. You and Al are my family, you know that."

"I do, but it's still nice to hear it sometimes," he murmured.

Lissa brushed his hair out of his face and smiled down at him, aware he couldn't see her. She kept her mouth shut, trying to let him rest—and soon enough he was snoring away, his left hand creeping underneath his shirt within minutes, tugging the material up to expose his tummy. For the moment, though, she couldn't bring herself to move him, just enjoying how relaxed he was with her. It meant a lot, especially considering how wound-up Ed always was during the day.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, stroking his hair every once in a while, just letting him sleep, until Al stepped into the room with a few soft clanks to announce his presence. "So that's where you've been," he realized aloud. "Pfft. Look at brother, sleeping with his tummy out again. What am I going to do with him?"

"It's like you're the older one, huh, Al?" Pinako asked, meandering into the room past him, with Winry on her heels.

Al laughed. "He can be a handful," he admitted, his tone fond. "Someone has to look after him. Lissa and I do our best, you know."

Pinako settled onto a nearby chair and eyed them. "How old are you three now, anyway?"

"I'm fourteen, and brother and Lissa are fifteen," Alphonse told her. Lissa wondered at that, just a bit—she didn't _feel_ just fifteen, after all… None of them felt like teenagers to her, though intellectually she knew they were. Still… She knew some adults who'd learned less of the world than her, Alphonse, and Edward had.

Winry crossed the room and settled beside Lissa, looking down at Ed affectionately, and yet sadly all at once. "To think someone as young and small as he is could be used as a human weapon… It's almost funny… Especially watching him sleep." She looked up at Lissa anxiously. "And…that's what you'll be doing too, isn't it, Lissa? Becoming a state alchemist?"

Lissa nodded slowly.

"It doesn't seem right… Neither of you should have to go through something so awful," Winry told her, shaking her head forlornly. "Yesterday, you said you didn't have a choice. Is that right? You really don't have any other options?"

"It is," Lissa confirmed softly. "I'm a ward of the state, so I have to pay back my debt. That's just how it works."

"Well, if your path ever changes, you'll always be welcome here," Pinako told her firmly, folding her arms across her chest. "The boys seem to love you, and I've seen enough evidence of your character to see the kind of person you are. You'll always have a home here with us, if you need it."

Lissa shut her eyes tightly for a moment against a sudden flood of tears, her throat too tight to speak. _A home… She offered me a home…_

"Thank you," Al murmured, picking up where she couldn't. "Both of you."

Winry looked up at him in surprise. "What's this? Why so formal?"

"Granny, Winry… I'm so grateful to you for welcoming us like we're really family. Brother won't ever say it, but… I know he feels the same way." Al inclined his head towards Lissa, seeming to smile, somehow. "We all do."

"Al…" Winry looked as though she might cry.

Pinako just smiled across at him, the faintest quirk of her lips, but it was enough. "Don't you worry, dear. We know he feels that way too; he doesn't have to say it."

"Thank you," Lissa whispered for herself, finally managing to speak without fearing she'd burst into tears suddenly. She just…didn't have adequate words to explain how much it meant to her to be offered a _home_ , when that horrible institution in Central had been her home for so long, the only place she had… But now… Now she had this wonderful warm place in Resembool. All at once, Resembool felt more like home than Rayerk ever had.

Winry yawned then, so big her jaw actually cracked, and Lissa finally realized how exhausted the poor mechanic actually _looked_ , with deep bruises under her eyes and a slump to her shoulders. "Okay, I think I have to tap out," she sighed. "I'll try to get up and say goodbye to you guys tomorrow, but just in case…" She hopped up and grabbed Al in a hug. "It was _so_ good to see you, Al. Please, try to come back and visit more, okay?" Lissa thought she was just going to go upstairs—but then Winry bounded over and wrapped her arms around Lissa, shocking her down to her core. "And you better come back and visit too, Lissa," Winry told her firmly. "You're family now too, remember? So don't be a stranger, I mean it."

Lissa stared up at her in surprise. "I—I won't, Winry. I promise." Then, trying for a little something lighter, she grinned and added, "Hey, maybe I'll even call. The boys won't, but I'll try my best."

The other girl laughed, beaming at her. "I'll hold you to that."

Winry and Pinako both went off to bed then, leaving the three alone in the living room. Lissa wasn't sure where Alex was—she guessed he was off eavesdropping somewhere, which he was famous for doing, probably _highly_ emotional after that whole conversation.

Al stared down at her for a moment, not moving from his spot partway across the room. "Lissa… Do you…" He shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "Never mind."

She blinked at him. "What's up, Al?"

"Nothing," he denied quickly. "Just—I'm glad he has you, that's all."

Lissa wondered, just for a split second, if Al sensed that she'd… But she brushed it off. He'd say so, wouldn't he? "I'm glad I have you both," she told him. "I don't know what I'd do without you, I really don't."

"Well, you're not gonna have to find out." Finally, he seemed to get over…whatever was going on in his mind, and crossed the room to them. "We should probably get brother into bed… Getting his automail attached is always really hard on him. He doesn't like to admit it, but it's really painful and it takes him a couple days to recover."

She smiled and trailed her fingers through Ed's hair again. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'm pretty tired too, honestly."

Al leaned in and carefully picked up Ed, lifting him up with one arm behind his neck and the other beneath his knees, a sort of practiced motion from all the times Ed would fall asleep in uncomfortable places and need to be moved to an actual bed. As always, he didn't even stir at the movement, just kept on sleeping in that uncannily deep way of his.

Lissa followed them upstairs, watching with a soft sort of warmth in her chest as Alphonse carefully placed Edward into his bed and pulled the blankets over him, eternally gentle and caring with him. "You're such a sweetheart, Al," she told him as she settled onto her borrowed bed.

He shifted under her gaze. "I'm just…looking out for my brother, that's all."

"I know, but it's still sweet… You've got such a good heart, it makes everyone else look bad sometimes." Lissa just smiled when he looked at her in clear surprise. "I mean it, Alphonse. One day…you're going to get your body back, and I'm gonna hug the crap out of you all the damn time, probably every time you smile."

"Nuh-uh," he denied quickly. "You'd get tired of it."

Just to tease him, she raised her eyebrows and asked, "What, are you saying you're ugly or something?"

Al gasped at her outright. " _No!_ I'm _way_ better looking than brother is, besides, and I don't keep my hair all stupid and long and…" He giggled suddenly, cutting himself off. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"You got it," she laughed. Too exhausted to bother changing, Lissa slid her legs under the blankets and snuggled down into her pillow, wanting to drift right off.

But a thought stopped her. She pushed up on her elbows for a moment and looked across at Al, who was settling down at the foot of Edward's bed as usual. "Hey, Alphonse…" Lissa met his glowing red gaze as he stared up at her. "I know you get lonely at night… So… I don't say it enough, but if you ever need anything, even if it's just company… You can always get me. I mean it. I'm always reminding Ed that he doesn't have to do everything alone, but you don't either, okay? I want to look after you too, I really do."

Al bowed his head, maybe unable to look her in the eye anymore. "Thank you, Lissa," he murmured. "That means a lot to me."

Satisfied, she lay back down and closed her eyes, only now ready to fall asleep. Lissa knew she _had_ to look after them— _both_ of them—and she wanted to do that, with all her heart. They were her family, after all. And family was supposed to stick together.


	13. Dead End

Double-update incoming! Not only was this chapter short (out of necessity - for spacing purposes later) but one of my amazing readers over on AO3 made a fanart for me the other day, and nobody has EVER done that for me before. So consider this a surprise gift because of Cambria on AO3, who is completely lovely and amazing. :3

* * *

Bright and early the next morning, before the sun had even fully crept over the horizon, the four left Resembool behind and returned to Central. Ed was practically bouncing in his seat with how urgently he wanted to get to the library, so they went straight there from the station. Yet when they rounded the corner and approached the enormous building, Lissa got the strangest sense of…loss. "Hey, Ed… Something isn't right," she tried to tell him but he was already running on.

"What is it, Lissa?" Al asked her, looking down at her anxiously. "Did you… What do you think is happening?"

Around the next corner, which would put them directly in front of the library, Ed suddenly let out a horrified cry.

They found him standing in front of the burned remnants of the National Central Library's First Branch, his jaw hanging in complete and utter shock. Lissa came to stand beside him, grimacing at the tang of ash and burned parchment in the air. So this was what she'd sensed. It was odd to feel something so acutely, but then again, this had nothing to do with emotions—it was pure loss of knowledge, nothing more.

"Dr. Marcoh's research… It's all gone!" Ed wailed.

"What could've happened here?" Al wondered, walking towards the ruined building. He paused at the steps and peered inside, clearly confused, and Lissa didn't blame him. "Why would somebody burn the library down? You don't think…"

Lissa followed him, Ed right behind her, and muttered, "I don't like to believe in coincidences. We get a solid lead and the whole library gets burned down?"

"Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me," Ed grumbled. He passed Al and strode up into the burned building, and Lissa followed him hurriedly, knowing the other two would come along as well. She just didn't want Ed to get too upset and do something crazy, that's all. "I mean, to burn it down this completely…"

"It'd require an accelerant," Lissa pointed out, as he knelt down to examine a charred shell that had once been a book. "There's no way an accidental fire burned hot enough to do all this damage."

He nodded wearily. "Yeah. Look at this…" Ed picked up the burned book and it crumbled between his fingers, completely ruined beyond anyone's skill to repair. "There's nothing here but ashes. Everything's gone."

"Major Armstrong!"

Lissa turned, reflexively sticking her arm out in front of Ed even though he could protect himself now—but she lowered her arm when she saw a couple soldiers standing in the doorway, saluting crisply. She wondered what they were doing here, but soldiers weren't a real threat, at least.

Alex inclined his head towards them. "Oh, Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh. To what do we owe this pleasure?"

Ross, a woman with dark, short-cropped hair, answered him in a clipped, proper tone. "You have been ordered to report back to the command center, sir."

"We'll be taking over supervision of Edward Elric, his trainee, and his brother, effective immediately," Brosh added on, in that same super-formal tone that made Lissa twist her nose up. It was the right way to address a superior, she knew that, but at the same time it could rub her the wrong way. Or…maybe it was just the feeling of being _handled_ doing that.

Alex didn't argue for a moment. "Very well, they're yours."

Ed groaned and raked a hand across his hair. "What is this?" he almost whined. "Just when I think I'm home free, they saddle me with more bodyguards? This is getting old!"

 _Definitely being handled._

Alex loomed over him, making Ed quail and shrink back against Al's armor. "It is an honor to be guarded by such fine soldiers as these!" he boomed. "You will take what is given to you, Edward Elric! Be grateful!"

Lissa grinned and patted his arm. "It was good seeing you, Alex. I'll make sure to stop in before we go anywhere else, promise."

His demeanor changed immediately as he turned and swept her into an embrace, which she laughed and accepted, even though it felt like her ribs might crack under the pressure. "Then I will see you around, Lissa." Alex rested his hand atop her head a moment, and then headed off back towards HQ, not one to delay on his orders.

"So…what now?" Alphonse asked uncertainly.

Ross gave them a curious look. "What were you looking for here, anyway?" she inquired. "Maybe it was moved elsewhere before the fire."

"No, it was here," Ed asserted. "It was someone's personal notes."

Clearly trying to move past Ed's sullenness, Brosh put on a brighter face and told them, "Well, our orders are to escort you wherever you need to go. And seeing as I don't think you'll find anything in there, we should probably get going. Our car is just around the corner."

Lissa kept her hand at the small of Ed's back as they walked, aware that he could very easily fall into total devastation at the loss of their clue. She even sat beside Lieutenant Ross in the car, facing Ed so she could keep an eye on him—and, well, because Ed and Al together took up the whole bench in the little military car. She didn't really have a choice.

"All might not be lost," Ross told them encouragingly, as they drove away. "There's a woman who was well-acquainted with the materials in the first branch." She glanced sideways at Brosh for a moment. "Unfortunately…she wasn't working there anymore."

Ed crossed his arms and scowled out the window. "That sounds incredibly helpful," he muttered bitterly.

Brosh just kept staring at Al, his jaw tight, like he was trying to figure something out.

"Um… Is something wrong?" Al asked him worriedly.

The Sergeant's eyes widened. "Oh, it's nothing," he dismissed quickly. "Although…if you don't mind me asking… Why are you wearing a suit of armor?"

Lissa shared a panicked look with the boys. That wasn't good…

"It's a hobby!" the boys chorused like they'd rehearsed it.

 _Are you kidding me?! A hobby?!_ Lissa glared at them while Ross and Brosh exchanged completely baffled, freaked-out looks. A _hobby_. Well, now their new bodyguards thought they were total freaks. She was really going to have to work on their lying skills, honestly, that was just a pathetic attempt.

Ignoring the boys' attempts to change the subject, Lissa turned to Ross and asked, "Do you think we could still talk to this woman? She's the only lead we've got so far."

"Sure." Ross leaned back and gave their driver an address, for a neighborhood not far from them. Lissa recognized where it was—it wasn't the best neighborhood, by any means, but not totally sketchy at least. They'd be okay there, even with bodyguards who weren't actually alchemists.

She did wonder at that… Swapping out Alex with two non-alchemists who'd be totally lost against someone like Scar. Lissa hoped it was because someone higher-up knew it was ridiculous to keep the three of them under guard, and had assigned these two as a formality, not because they were actually _necessary_. Otherwise…that meant they really were being watched like children.

Less than ten minutes later, their odd little party headed inside the apartment building and searched out this woman's unit. A knock on the door got them nothing, so Ed, forgoing societal boundaries as always, merely opened the door.

Lissa's jaw dropped. _Books._ Books as far as they eye could see, darkening the interior of the little apartment and walling it in like a damned labyrinth. She'd never seen this many books in such a small place—in a big library, sure, but not _here_ , in some tiny little apartment, crammed in so there was hardly space for an actual human being…

"Oh, _wow_ ," Ed breathed, as stunned as she was. "There's gotta be a million of 'em!"

While Brosh and Ross delved right in, forced to walk sideways to actually fit through the rows of books, Lissa stuck between Ed and Al, a bit ashamed that she could walk frontwards just like Ed. They were both small enough to fit, it seemed. Poor Alphonse barely fit at all, so it was slow going for him.

Lissa was just about to follow Ed down the next row when Al's timid voice came from behind them. "Um…brother?" He was stopped at a gap between a couple shelves, pointing down the row at a messy pile of books sitting at the very end, against the farthest wall of books.

And a _hand_ was sticking out the top.

"There's somebody under there!" Al yelped.

All four rushed into action, frantically digging through the pile and flinging books aside left and right, until they'd finally uncovered a woman at the very bottom, gasping for air and a little battered, from being stuck underneath all the books.

"Thank you, thank you!" she gasped, bowing over and over on her knees. "I'm so sorry, I got myself trapped under a whole mountain of books!" She sat up and put her glasses on, blinking at them through the lenses, still seeming a bit dazed. It wasn't surprising. "I thought I was going to suffocate under there. Thank you _so_ much."

Lissa glanced at Ed, wanting to see his thoughts—only to purse her lips to hold back a giggle as she realized he had a book sitting on his head. She removed it and brushed her hand atop his head to fix his hair, absently, though she noted after the fact that his cheeks dusted pink at her touch.

 _Oops. I really have to watch that._

"So, uh…" Ed cleared his throat. "Are you Sheska?"

The brunette nodded. "Yes."

"And you worked at the library?" he pressed.

Immediately, Sheska's eyes took on a dreamy, faraway look. "Ah, the library!" she sighed happily. "The word itself is so beautiful! I've loved books my whole entire life, ever since I first learned to read as a girl… That job was _heaven_. But…" Her face fell and she bowed her head. "I forgot that I was supposed to be working, and all I ever did was read. So they fired me. If I don't find another job, I'll never be able to move my poor, elderly mother into a better hospital… But I'm _hopeless_! The only thing I can do well is read! I'll never find another job as long as I live! I'm useless, good for nothing! More pathetic than pond scum!"

Lissa leaned in towards Ed's ear and muttered, "Stop her before this goes too far, please…"

He winced and slowly lifted his hand, trying to get the woman's attention. "Um, excuse me… There was one thing we wanted to ask you…"

Immediately she snapped out of it. "Yes?"

"Do you remember seeing any research belonging to someone named Tim Marcoh?" Ed pressed, seizing the opportunity quickly.

Sheska tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Let's see… Tim Marcoh… Now where do I know that name from?" She then grinned brightly and snapped her fingers, her demeanor brightening in an instant. "Oh! Yes, of course! I remember now!"

"You do?" Lissa glanced at the boys, hopeful.

"Oh, yes," Sheska confirmed with a quick bob of her head. "I'm absolutely positive. There were some handwritten notes stuffed into a bookcase where they didn't belong."

Ed sat up straight, his eyes wide with elation. "The notes really were there after all! So he wasn't leading us on! But that means…" He sank back down and pressed both hands over his face. "Oh _no_ … That means they burned up along with everything else in the library… Dammit…"

"Did you want to read them? Is that why you're asking?" Sheska inquired, frowning.

Sighing, Ed rose to his feet, Al and Lissa following suit. "Yeah. But it's too late now, they're nothing but ashes."

"Sorry to bother you," Al added dejectedly.

"Um…but…" Sheska got to her feet as they began to walk out and gave them a curious look. "I remember everything that was in them. Would that help at all?"

" _You what_?!"

Sheska shrugged a bit helplessly. "It's just how I am. I'm able to remember the content of every book I've ever read. It'll take a while, but I can write them all out for you."

Lissa stared at her in shock while the boys fawned a bit, both overwhelmed by the idea of getting these notes back. "And you're sure you can do a perfect recreation?" she clarified, holding Ed back by his hood as he went to probably hug the poor woman half to death. "They might be a bit complicated or confusing, I don't know…"

"Oh, it'll be no problem at all," the woman dismissed, beaming at her. "Just give me a few days and I'll have them ready!"

—

A few days turned into five, by which point Ed was a nervous wreck—a struggle only compounded when Sheska's transcription revealed alchemists' notes coded into recipes. But having the notes on hand gave Edward enough of a boost to resolve that they'd decode Dr. Marcoh's research and figure it out themselves. Lissa admired the determination, she really did… But after over a _week_ working on these stupid notes, she was starting to get exhausted of it all. Her back and neck hurt, not to mention her wrist from all the writing, the endless writing…

"I think I'm gonna die in here," she mumbled on the tenth day, resting her forehead on one volume of the notes—something about baking bread, or maybe it was muffins, she could hardly remember—and shutting her eyes. "Not all of us have unlimited stamina or an automail hand to switch to when your arm starts to ache, you know."

Ed smirked across at her. "What, you're giving up now?"

"I'm not _giving up_ , dummy. I just hurt, all freaking over. At this point I think I'd rather spar with Al for twelve hours straight than write another word." Lissa shot Al a quick smile, just so he knew it wasn't mean-spirited.

"Why've you been writing so much anyway?" Ed asked her, raising an eyebrow. "I haven't seen much of what you're doing."

Lissa sighed and pushed her notebook over to him, watching as his golden eyes flicked over the words as quickly as he possibly could, trying to take in everything at light-speed as always. "I've been making notes of all the egregious errors in the recipes, see… Anything that stands out. I'm not the best in the kitchen but I know about baking, it's all science, you see, ratios and stuff. I wondered originally if these were workable recipes, and some of them seem to be, but not all of them. So I've been compiling all the strange things in these recipes, noting which volume and page, and what I'd suggest the correction to be, just in case that helps."

"Woah, Lissa," Al murmured, peering over Ed's shoulder to get a better look. "I hadn't even thought about looking at it that way… I just assumed it was all code, not real recipes."

Edward's brow was furrowed in thought as he scanned through what she'd written, his tongue poking slightly out of the corner of his lips. He stared in silence for so long she actually began to wonder if what she'd done was useless—until he looked up at her, grinning. "This is…a totally different perspective, Liss. I know you're tired but do you think you could work on this volume I've been using? I'm familiar with it and I'd love to see what you turn up, it's helping me look at it a different way."

And just like that, she was totally lost. "'Course I can, Ed. Here, hand it over." Lissa wanted to smack herself for giving in that easily, but when Ed beamed at her as he passed her the volume he'd been working on, she remembered exactly _why_ she did things for him.

A few hours later, Lissa needed a break before her hand cramped up, so she left the boys working—Edward had her new set of notes to look through, so he was nicely distracted—and after making a loop of the building with Lieutenant Ross tailing her, she got it in her head to call Winry and check in. So she found the public phones down in the lobby, since it was part of Central Command, after all, and settled in to make her call.

"Rockbell Automail Outfitters, how can I help you?"

Lissa grinned and bit back a laugh. "I should probably make a deposit for the next time Ed ruins his automail, but that's not actually why I called."

"Lissa!" Winry's tone brightened immediately. "I'm so glad you actually called. I'm not used to getting updates, Ed and Al never bother picking up a phone. So how's it going? Did you find that lead you were looking for?"

"With a little difficulty, yeah. It's all coded, but we've been working on cracking it, so I'm hoping we'll get _somewhere_ within a few days." Lissa twirled the phone cable around her finger, smiling to herself. She'd never had anyone to call and update before, and it felt…nice.

"Oh, man. You've been working on it all this time?"

Lissa leaned into the wall behind her. "Not exactly, no. I mean, the first five days we were just stuck waiting around. So it's been…ten?" She groaned to herself and passed a hand over her face, the world turning pink-red a moment as her glove flashed past her eyes. "Ugh. That sounds worse than it's felt, I swear. It isn't too bad, working like this, it's a big part of being an alchemist."

"I'd say that sounds boring, but the amount of work and research I had to do learning about automail was pretty daunting too," Winry laughed.

"I bet. I don't have as much stamina as Ed and Al, though," Lissa admitted, shrugging to herself. "I figured since I was taking a break I'd check in, otherwise my hand was gonna cramp up—I don't think I've ever been jealous of Ed's automail until now, honestly."

"Aw, well, don't let the boys work you too hard, okay?"

Lissa snickered at that. "I'm more worried about them, I keep having to remind Ed to eat or the dummy forgets completely. Don't worry, though, between me and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, we're keeping them fed." That was true—after Hughes caught wind of their task earlier in the week, he'd started sending lunches to the little library room every day. It was sweet, and it saved Lissa the trip out, too.

"I don't know who that is," Winry told her honestly, sounding amused, "but thank him for me next time you see him, will you?" She sighed wearily and added, "Thank you for looking after them, Lissa. Really. It's so good to know they aren't handling all this alone."

She tightened her fingers on the phone cord just a bit. "They look after me too, y'know."

"I know. And that's good to know too." There was a _clang_ in the background, and Winry muttered something unintelligible. "Ugh, I gotta go. This new model of a leg I'm working on is giving me some trouble… But it was _so_ nice hearing from you, really. Thank you so much for calling."

She hadn't expected so much…genuine gratitude, especially since it was just _her_ calling and not the boys… But Winry really sounded happy to hear from her. Lissa resolved to make a point of staying in touch with her, because clearly the other girl worried about the boys a lot. If she could help, then she would. "It's no problem. I'll try to keep you updated, Winry. And uh… Good luck with the leg."

Winry snorted a laugh. "Thanks, Lissa. I'll talk to you soon!"

"Bye, Winry." Lissa hung up and swung her legs off the bench, rising to her feet and stretching her back out as Ross approached.

"Friend of yours?" Ross asked her curiously.

Lissa nodded, just offhand, though she wondered if that was really true. She didn't know Winry very well yet. "She's a childhood friend of Ed and Al's, actually. I met her when we visited Resembool a couple weeks ago, and I promised I'd try to keep her updated on them since they never actually pick up the phone and call."

Ross smiled at her. "That's sweet of you, Cadet. It's nice, how you look after those two."

 _Cadet. Ugh._ "I'm not a cadet," Lissa muttered, scrunching her nose up unhappily. "I'm not anything until I get to take my exams next year."

"Sorry," the Lieutenant apologized quickly, though she looked amused. "I gotta say, it's a bit weird working with such young alchemists. You and the Elric brothers are younger than anybody else we've been assigned to before, so we're…not always sure how to address you, I guess."

Feeling a bit bad for her gut reaction, Lissa flashed a smile and told her, "Honestly, first names are fine. None of us really fit in with the whole…titles and ranks stuff you see in the military."

She grinned back. "I'll try it, but I can't make any promises. Edward is technically a Major, after all, so he's a higher rank than Brosh or me. Most of the other state alchemists like going by their ranks, like Colonel Mustang, for example, or Major Armstrong."

"Yeah, but they're really active in the military itself," Lissa explained as they headed back towards the room. "Ed, Al, and I are just…researching, really. So it's a bit different for us, I guess."

"And you and Alphonse aren't technically enlisted, right?"

"Right. I will be, though, as soon as I turn sixteen." The thought still made her feel bitter, though she didn't let it show in her voice. Lying was going to be a big part of her life—she might as well get used to the habit, for her own protection. The only people she didn't want to lie to were Ed and Al, but that was different, really, they were her friends… Her _family_.

Ross frowned at her. "And that's…not a good thing, for you?" she edged, apparently picking something up. Lissa would have to work on that.

"No, it'll be nice to have a little freedom," Lissa dismissed quickly. Ross was active military—and even though she was one of Alex's soldiers, she didn't want to push her anti-military ideas on the Lieutenant. It just didn't seem fair.

Though Ross didn't seem to believe her, she didn't argue the point further, thankfully, and soon enough Lissa had stepped back into the small library room and found herself under Ed's curious golden eyes. "You were gone a while," he observed, his left hand still poised above his own notes, pen grasped between his fingers. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just called Winry to let her know we're okay," Lissa told him, smiling as she slipped back into her seat. "Since you two wouldn't do it." She peered across at Ed's notes curiously, seeing that he'd been scribbling some additions of his own onto the ones she'd passed him, which… Did that mean she'd been useful? "Make any headway while I was gone?"

He grinned at her. "Actually, we did. I noticed a pattern in the things you wrote down, the parts of the recipes that wouldn't work in real life, and I've been following that… We figured out some of it and I think I'm pretty close to cracking what he has listed as the ingredients for the stone."

"Wait, the actual list of ingredients for a Philosopher's Stone?" Lissa clarified. She leapt out of her chair when he nodded and darted to stand behind him, wishing she could make sense of it the way he did—but she wanted to see it anyway, even if she couldn't quite understand it. "Ed, that's _amazing_. If we can figure out the ingredients then maybe…"

"Maybe we can make one ourselves," Al finished eagerly. "Exactly."

Lissa gripped Ed's shoulder tightly as he delved back in, her eyes darting across the handwritten lines, trying to see the pattern and the solution he was seeking. Some of it she could understand based on the annotations he'd done on her own notes—certain ingredients in the recipes corresponded to elements on the periodic table, which she assumed were parts of the stone itself. A significant portion seemed to be pretty reasonable to find, as well. It all just felt so _possible_ that Lissa found herself just drowning in hope, truly believing this might work…

Until Edward staggered away from the table, his face contorted in horror, knocking his chair to the floor as he recoiled. "No… _no_ … It can't be…"

"Ed?" Lissa glanced between him and the notes, baffled. "What's going on?"

He shook his head faintly. "Al… Please… Tell me that doesn't say what I think it does… It has to be something else…"

"Isn't what, brother?" Al asked him, getting up from his seat and going to check Ed's notes. Lissa stood just behind Ed, confused but unwilling to leave his side yet, not until she knew what the hell was going on here.

Al gasped and stepped back, horrified—then he sank down onto the floor and dropped his head into his hands. "Oh, no," he breathed.

Lissa had a horrible sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something was… _wrong_ , so very wrong, but she couldn't piece it together. "What is it?" she asked softly. Ed looked at her, one gloved hand pressed over his mouth, and just shook his head at her. He couldn't voice it. So Lissa stepped past his fallen chair and leaned down to see his notes. She stared for a moment, trying to piece together what he'd found out, deciphering his handwriting and finding what the corresponding part in Dr. Marcoh's notes, her mind scrambling to understand.

Then it hit her. She could see it all, could understand the truth Dr. Marcoh had been so afraid to share… The gruesome truth within the truth.

"Human souls… The Philosopher's Stone requires…human souls?"

"As a sacrifice," Ed spat. "Our cure, the thing we've been hunting for three years now… It requires _death_. We'd have to use souls that have been ripped and reshaped from live humans to get our bodies back. Human lives, Lissa. That's what Dr. Marcoh was hiding. They killed _people_ to make the complete Philosopher's Stone."

Lissa stared at him, covered in cold chills and shaking faintly. "B-but… There has to be another way, you haven't decrypted all his notes yet… There could be more, Ed, something else, another method for creating the stone…"

"Don't you get it?!" he snarled. "Everything we've been working for was fucking useless!"

She flinched as he lashed out, kicking Al's chair and sending it flying into the wall. Then he aimed for the research on the table, swiping it off and to the floor, and rammed his automail fist down on the surface. "Dammit! All that time, all the searching… For _nothing_!" Ed let out another angry cry and slammed his heel into the nearest book, splitting the spine, before he whirled and aimed to ram his fist into the bookcase behind him.

"Edward, stop it!" Lissa yelled. She shot towards him in a burst of blue alchemical energy and grabbed his wrists, holding him back from his onslaught.

He shook his head fiercely, looking so…unhinged it terrified her. "We have _nothing_ now! All of this was just…" He wrenched free of her and stalked towards the table again, still wrathful. "To hell with it! _All_ of it!"

Lissa shifted again, cutting across his path—but this time when she grabbed for him it was like all his energy left him at once. He crumpled against her, clutching at her shoulders for a moment, before his legs gave out and Ed dropped straight to the floor, head bowed, completely lost. She knelt beside him and touched her hand to his back as gently as she could, still in shock herself. How could this be true? How was it fair for _this_ to be the end of their searching? Hadn't the boys suffered enough to _deserve_ getting their bodies back?

The doors flung open, and Ross and Brosh stepped inside, looking around themselves in confusion. "Woah, what did you guys do to this place?" Brosh asked with wide eyes.

Ross gave the three an odd look. "Don't get angry because you can't crack it. Throwing things won't help," she advised. But she didn't know… Neither of them had any idea what had just transpired, they didn't know the extent of what they'd found…

"We did crack it," Al told them miserably. "We cracked the code and decrypted the notes."

Brosh looked between them in surprise. "Really? You did? But that's a good thing, isn't it? I thought you'd be celebrating."

"There's nothing good about it, dammit! This _is_ the devil's research. It should've been destroyed," Edward snarled, slamming his automail fist on the floor. "Dr. Marcoh was right. It's evil." He brought the same hand up to his face, pressing it there, hiding whatever he was feeling from the soldiers. But Lissa knew. She knew him better, knew how badly he was hurting… She slid her arm across his back and leaned into him, lost but determined to help somehow. Even if it was futile.

"What's so evil about it?" Brosh pressed, still not putting it together.

Edward shuddered faintly underneath Lissa's arm. "The main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone…is human life."

It was as though the air itself tinged with blood. The soldiers' shock pushed down on Lissa, hard, static across her skin. She didn't blame them. Nothing could make this okay.

"In order to manufacture even a single stone," Ed continued in a ragged voice, raking his hand down his face and staring unseeing across the room, his breathing unsteady and harsh, "you have to make multiple human sacrifices."

Brosh and Ross took a step back, reflexively. "How could the military authorize research into something so horrible?" Brosh gasped.

"I can't believe it," Ross breathed, shaking her head. "This is awful."

Ed shifted, his hand falling from his face, and let out a deep sigh. "Do us a favor… Don't speak to anyone about this."

Brosh bent to look at him anxiously. "But, sir…"

" _Please_." His voice cracked, and Lissa swallowed hard, suddenly on the verge of tears. "Just pretend you never heard any of it."

Lissa understood why—he was _protecting_ them. The military's involvement in this, in the creation of a complete Philosopher's Stone… It was a horrific conspiracy that could ruin all their lives if it got out. There was no sense in dragging Ross and Brosh down with them, if this got out. Edward was trying to keep them from being involved. It was too late for him, Al, and Lissa… But he was still trying to protect as many people as he could, even when he was shutting down emotionally like this.

As Brosh opened his mouth to protest, Ross interjected before he could speak. "All right," she agreed softly. "We'll pretend we didn't hear anything." She sighed and looked around the room, surveying the chaos and destruction from Ed's anger. "Listen… Why don't you three kids head back to the hotel. Sergeant Brosh can escort you. I'll clean up here."

"But… Lieutenant," Lissa tried, not wanting to leave her to do it alone.

Ross shook her head. "It's all right, I've got it handled. You should all get some rest, though, you've had a rough couple weeks and it's late anyway."

Lissa nodded and stood up, stupidly hoping the boys would follow suit—but neither of them moved. She couldn't blame them. "Ed, Al, come on," she murmured, reaching out to rest her hand atop Al's head for a moment. "Let's go to the hotel, okay? Please?" She stood there helplessly as Alphonse stood up, finally, though Edward didn't move at all.

"Brother…" Al touched his shoulder gently. "Lissa's right. We should go."

Ed sighed roughly. "Yeah, okay." He shoved to his feet and jammed his hands into his pockets, and Lissa went to take his arm—only for him to step past her and make his way out of the door alone. She stood dumbfounded, her heart aching in her chest. He'd…never pulled away from her like that.

"Brother's just hurting, Lissa," Al told her softly. He carefully put his arm around her, dwarfing her with the size of it, and guided her out of the room to follow Ed. "Just give him a little time."

 _A little time… I don't know if time will fix this one, Al, I really don't._


	14. Retaliation

I actually had so much fun writing this chapter - the sequence at the Fifth Laboratory is one of my favorites, for whatever reason, and especially in terms of writing the intensity of the emotions made this come really easily. Though you'll see it here, this chapter solidifies some more details of Lissa's particular brand of alchemy: specifically my concept that the size of the reaction (aka the blue energy) varies greatly depending upon how much material is being transmuted, the alchemist performing the transmutation, and the physical proximity of the material involved as well. If anything seems off or anybody needs clarification, PLEASE let me know! And as always - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

* * *

"Ed, please… You need to eat," Lissa begged softly, standing beside the hotel room door. The boys had barely moved in over twenty-four hours, and she was getting worried. She hadn't slept the night before, worrying about them, and she was looking at the same thing tonight if Ed didn't eat something. He'd been refusing food ever since they'd found out the truth about the Philosopher's Stone.

He didn't even look at her. He just continued to lay there on the sofa. "I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten in over a day," she reminded him, trying to keep her voice even. "It's not good for you, and you know that."

This time his eyes shifted to her, just for a moment. "I'm fine."

Lissa didn't think she'd ever gotten angry so fast in all her life. " _No_ , you are _not_ fine! Dammit, don't you think I know you better than that?! I know you're upset, but that's no excuse to just—just give up and stop taking care of yourself! Why is this the end, huh? You hit one dead end and it's all over?! What the hell is wrong with you, Edward?!" She ripped the door open, aware he was staring at her with his jaw dropped, but she ignored it. " _I_ haven't given up. I won't give up on you, but I won't sit here and watch you lie around in your own self-pity any longer either!" Seething, Lissa stalked out and slammed the door behind her, tearing down the hall and straight out of the hotel.

But her anger didn't carry her far, before misery set in, and Lissa found herself stumbling to a halt half a block away, where she sat on a bench and pressed her face into her hands. She hadn't meant to lose her temper… But watching the boys just give up like that…

It was more than being cross with them for giving up. She was angry _for_ them too, angry that they'd been handed down something so unfair. What the hell was the point of this Truth entity if it didn't actually live by Equivalent Exchange? Why did that principle exist at all if it didn't really _mean_ anything? They'd given up so much—energy, blood, _years_ of their lives—trying to find a solution… Only to learn that returning their bodies to normal would come at the cost of using human souls. If it had been almost anything else…

But it wasn't.

Lissa tried to push the image away, but it assaulted her anyway… The image of Edward, small and broken and lost, sitting in that too-big wheelchair… And Alphonse, trembling, newly ripped from his body and still trying to look after his big brother…

She clamped her hand over her mouth to keep back a sob. These boys, _her_ boys, had suffered so much… And what could she do to help them? What could she possibly do against all this? She'd sworn to look after them, to help them through whatever came, but she didn't know what to anymore. She didn't know how to make Ed pick himself up off the ground and _try_ , not when he'd found this. Not when it seemed like the cost would be human souls. Ed and Al knew the value of a human soul, more than almost anyone else. They'd never do it, not just for their own gain.

Something flickered in front of her eyes. Lissa felt her heart stutter in her chest as the image solidified, just for a moment—fire, and a burst of bright red light. She heard someone scream, a tiny, high-pitched little girl's scream. Her lungs ached and she couldn't _breathe_ , her whole body hurt, burning fire all over her skin-

"Lissa?"

As quickly as it had come, the moment passed, and Lissa found herself staring into Alex's worried gaze. "Oh, Alex," she murmured, trying to brush off the lingering ache around her chest. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on yours and the Elric brothers' progress," he explained giving her an odd look. "However… Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh seemed to think something was the matter with you, and the brothers as well." So that was why he was acting so weirdly… He was suspicious of what the boys had discovered.

She swallowed hard and averted her gaze. It wasn't really her place to reveal this… Yet… If she couldn't trust Alex with it, who could she trust? "Ed isn't eating," she confessed finally. "I got angry with him tonight about it, that's why I'm out here."

"I see. And is there some…underlying reason you're angry about this, instead of worried?"

Lissa clutched at the ends of her jacket, twisting her fingers into the fabric. "I'm worried too. It's just… He's giving up, and I hate seeing that."

He looked at her in surprise. "Giving up? Edward Elric is giving up on a project? That seems most unusual."

"No, he'd never," she dismissed absently—then pressed her hands over her mouth in surprise as she realized her slip. _Dammit. Now he'll know something's up._ "I think he's just feeling defeated, that's all," Lissa tacked on, trying to cover herself. But it was already too late.

"If he isn't giving up, then what exactly is the problem?" Alex asked, giving her a very stern look.

Lissa sighed and dropped her hands. Fine. If the boys wouldn't listen to her, then maybe Alex could knock some sense into them. "The problem is they _did_ find the answer—but it's horrible. It's completely disgusting. Everything Dr. Marcoh said, about it being the devil's research, about going through hell… He was right, Alex. He was right about everything." She shut her eyes tightly. "The Philosopher's Stone… A complete one, not like the one Dr. Marcoh had… It requires human souls to create. That's where it derives its power."

"Human souls?" Alex's voice was much too soft, unsettling to hear. "Are you certain?"

She nodded solemnly, unable to force her eyes open just yet. "We double-checked everything, but it's true. I wanted to look further, to see if there was more, but Ed was finished with it and Al didn't want to press him. That's why they haven't left the hotel… And that's why I got so angry… It isn't _fair_ for this to be the end of it… They deserve better."

Alex rose from where he'd been kneeling in front of her, and crossed his arms firmly over his chest. "You're quite right, Lissa. It isn't fair. Come! Let us knock some sense into those boys—giving up now is simply unacceptable, don't you think?"

"But the stone…"

He offered her a hand, and pulled her to her feet beside him, his gaze fierce. "This is but one dead end in a long, difficult road. Those boys had yet to face a true dead end until now—and now that they have, it's up to us to set them straight again. Don't you think?"

Lissa considered that. He was right that they hadn't exactly hit a serious roadblock like this one until now…so maybe they really did just need a push in the right direction to keep going. And she'd _yelled_ at them, at Ed. She should've been focusing on helping and encouraging them instead of getting angry, but it was just…so hard to see them so down. How stupid of her, to get so wrapped up in her own feelings that she'd lost sight of actually looking after them…

"Okay," she agreed softly. "I'll try."

In what felt like seconds, Alex had dragged her through the lobby—collecting the very shamefaced Ross and Brosh, who had set him on this path in the first place—and found herself standing awkwardly beside him as he banged on the door to the hotel room she'd been sharing with the boys.

"Elric brothers, I know you're in there!" he thundered. "Open up! This is the Major!"

Lissa winced and exchanged a look with Ross. If the boys didn't listen to him…this wasn't going to end well.

Sure enough, when Ed and Al didn't answer the door, Alex simply busted it open himself, shoving through the suddenly-open doorway with the knob still clutched in his hand, shattered bits of wood sticking out from the brass plate. "I know what it said, Edward Elric!" He barged right in while the boys gaped, stunned, and launched straight into a lamentation for what they'd discovered. Ed scowled across at Ross and Brosh the whole time, on his feet like he'd go after them, deeming them responsible for the intrusion—but he ignored Lissa completely.

She tried to pretend it didn't hurt.

"Imagine the military being behind something like that!" Alex bewailed, shaking his head. Lissa thought he might cry. "Often the truth is more cruel than we bargain for!"

Edward's head snapped up. "The truth!"

Al gave him a baffled sort of look, his eyes a touch too pale, and stood up beside the sofa. "Brother? What is it?"

"Do you remember what Dr. Marcoh said at the station? He talked about _the truth hidden within the truth_. I didn't have a clue what he was talking about then, but now… It's the same as with alchemical notes. What you can see on the surface is only a portion of the truth." Edward looked across at Lissa suddenly and grinned, his eyes shimmering gold. "You were right to push me, Liss. I can't give up yet. There's still more to find here. There has to be."

She crossed to him then, trying not to be afraid that he'd snap at her—he'd have every right. "What are you thinking?" she asked, wracking her brain.

"Well… If the first truth is what makes the Philosopher's Stone… Then I'd guess he meant something bigger than that, something with a wider effect." Ed tapped his fingers on his automail thoughtfully. "We might learn more if we found out where the stone was made… Major, do you happen to know where Dr. Marcoh was stationed while he was researching?"

Alex looked at him curiously. "Here, in Central."

Lissa stared between Ed and Al for a moment, all three slowly coming to the same page in this. "Can you get us a map of Central, Alex?" she asked, frowning. "Dr. Marcoh sent us here to find his research, but if we're looking for a hidden truth…we need to start looking deeper. Starting with our own government."

Within a few minutes, Alex had procured a map of the city and spread it out on the room's small table, which they all crowded around. Brosh, Ross, and Alphonse all remained standing, while Alex took a couch all to himself and Lissa settled down rather tentatively beside Ed, on the opposite side of the table. They hadn't actually resolved their little fight from earlier, and she was afraid of this tenuous peace shattering at any moment.

"Currently, there are four operational alchemy laboratories in Central that have connections to the government. We can narrow it down even further—Marcoh worked in the Third Laboratory. We should start there. It's the most suspect," Alex suggested, pointing it out on the map.

"Mh…" Ed frowned at the map. He had his gloved hand resting on his chin in thought, as he'd donned a few more clothes to do this rather than sitting in an undershirt. Thankfully. "Al, Lissa, and I have been to all the laboratories in the city. None were doing any remarkable research, we would've noticed."

Lissa chewed absently on her lip as she regarded the map. She knew the four laboratories pretty well, having spent more time in them than the boys, probably—but she'd thought… "Wait a minute. Four laboratories. But… There were supposed to be five originally, weren't there? I remember hearing about it when I was still at the institution. The Fifth Laboratory was built, but afterwards they found structural weaknesses and sealed it off before anyone actually started working there. It was…" Lissa tapped her finger down on the map. "Here. See? It's crossed out but the building is still standing. Seems kind of…weird to me to just leave it there without trying to fix it, or tearing it down and rebuilding it so the space can be used."

"That's it," Ed breathed, looking at her in surprise.

Brosh gave him a bewildered stare. "Huh? How can you be so sure that's the place?"

Ed pointed out the building directly adjacent to the Fifth Laboratory, and Lissa's whole body turned cold. "There's a prison right next door."

"Okay…so?"

"What was the main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone?" Ed muttered.

The Sergeant looked up at the ceiling in thought. "Uh…you said it needed live humans…" He paled. "Ugh. Oh no."

"There'd be plenty of condemned criminals in the prison. Officially, they'd be recorded as executed." Ed twisted up his mouth when he finished, looking more than a bit uncomfortable with the topic himself.

Ross looked a bit green as she realized. "They're using the prisoners to make the stone…"

When the two soldiers gave him uncomfortable looks, Ed threw his hands up and complained, "Don't look at me like that. I don't like talking about this any more than you."

"Prisons from other jurisdictions could be used too," Al observed, peering over his brother's shoulder. He sounded troubled, but more accepting than everyone else, maybe having processed it better by now. "I wonder if the government really is involved."

Ross grimaced. "Why do I get the feeling we're getting involved in something really dangerous here?"

"That's why we told you to pretend like you never heard anything!" Al told her fiercely.

Alex stood and rolled up his map, stowing it under his arm and stepping away from the table. "This has the potential of becoming a political nightmare before long," he mused. "I'll look into what we've talked about tonight. In the meantime, officers…" His gaze shifted to Ross and Brosh. "Speak of this to no one."

They both saluted. "Sir!"

"And you three…" Alex rounded on Lissa, Ed, and Al with a sudden intensity in his gaze. "Behave yourselves!"

Lissa exchanged a baffled look with Ed.

"I know you three children!" Alex boomed. "You were thinking about sneaking into this building and taking a look around, weren't you? Admit it!"

"We weren't, we weren't! We promise!"

Yet once Alex had left, and Ross and Brosh had taken up their usual posts outside the hotel room door—which had been newly repaired by Alex before he went on his way—Lissa turned and raised her eyebrow at the boys. "So…we're going, right?" she clarified, crossing her arms. "We didn't go through all that for nothing?"

"Tch. What do you take us for, huh?" Ed snickered. "We're going. We just need to lay low until our handlers get complacent."

"Perfect. Maybe I can get a little sleep before we go," she muttered, failing to stifle a yawn. "I didn't sleep last night."

Ed looked at her in concern. "What? Why not?"

She shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Al, realizing he hadn't ratted her out. Edward had slept on the sofa the night before, so she'd stayed up with Al and talked quietly the whole time, unable to rest when she was so worried. "I just…couldn't."

"She was worried about you, brother," Alphonse told him quietly.

His face fell. "Oh. Shit, I… I had no idea." Ed looked down at his own lap, eyebrows furrowed. "I'm sorry. Maybe you should stay behind, catch up on your rest…"

Lissa punched him in the arm, _hard_ , on his left side so he'd actually feel it.

"Hey! What was that for?" he demanded, rubbing the spot and gaping at her.

"Because you're being a dummy, that's why," she told him bluntly. "I was _worried_ about you, I lost sleep looking after you—so do you _actually_ think I'm just gonna sit here while you and Al go check out some dangerous building on your own? Who do you think I am, huh?"

Al giggled at her, rather than defending Ed, who looked offended by the whole thing. "Sorry, Ed, but you had that coming."

Ed grumbled and rolled his shoulder, though he didn't argue the point. "Fine, fine. I was an ass. It's just…difficult, I really thought we had the answer and then…" He sighed deeply. "But you were right. You told me I shouldn't give up and you were completely right, so… Thank you for that. I shouldn't let myself get knocked down by one bad answer."

"I understand why you were so upset, though," she admitted, shrugging. "I was angry _for_ you too… It seemed so unfair to find all this out, after all the work we've done and how hopeful you were… But at least we have a new lead now, right?"

He smirked. "Let's hope it's more than just a lead."

Lissa couldn't return the change in attitude, though. She was still too anxious. "So you…aren't upset with me for going off on you like that?"

"I mean, you probably didn't _need_ to yell at me," Ed teased lightly, "but I'm not upset with you, Liss. You just wanted to help, y'know? You didn't want me to give up like that, and I get where you were coming from, I really do. Besides…look where we are now. We've got a whole new side of this to investigate, and if I'd just stopped trying right there we wouldn't know any of it. I'm not giving up yet—and, well…" He glanced away, suddenly seeming a bit…awkward. "It's kinda nice knowing we have someone who won't give up on us."

She averted her gaze too as her cheeks burned red. "I wouldn't ever give up on you two," she told him honestly. "I never even considered it."

"That means a lot to us," Al told her, leaning down to rest a hand on her shoulder gently. "Really. It's nice knowing we have somebody on our side who won't just let us sit down and stop trying when we feel defeated."

"What else are friends for, huh?" Lissa asked, smiling up at him—then she yawned, _again_.

Ed laughed and leaned into the back of the sofa, patting his lap encouragingly. "Well, they make pretty good pillows. We've got a couple hours to kill before our bodyguards will think we're actually listening to the Major, so you should get some rest, Liss. We'll get you up in time to go, I promise, we won't leave you here."

Lissa was embarrassed by the offer, though she'd done the same for him on multiple occasions—but…it did sound nice, especially after how anxious she'd been earlier… So she did as he suggested and lay down with her head in his lap, smiling to herself as she felt his hand come to rest on her shoulder. "You'd better get me up," she mumbled, and closed her eyes wearily. "Otherwise I'll get Winry to put your automail on backwards next time."

He just snickered and brushed her hair from her face. "Sure, Liss. Now get some sleep, okay?"

She nodded, already feeling sleep tugging at her mind. It was so comfortable like this, being close to the boys…close to Ed… Lissa felt herself smile just before she drifted off. He was stroking her hair, a sweet, subconscious kind of gesture that made her chest feel tight in the best way possible. How could she ever give up on these two? They meant everything to her, absolutely everything.

—

True to his word, just a little over two hours later, Ed woke Lissa up with his and Al's plan to sneak out the window. She was alert in seconds, tossing on her usual mission attire—dark trousers, a navy blue shirt, and her black leather jacket, plus her red-pink fingerless gloves—and assessing the situation at the window. "It'll be loud if either of you fall," she observed. "Let me go first, if anything happens I can cushion your fall and make sure it doesn't wake up all of Central."

"That's mostly about me, isn't it?" Al pouted.

Lissa patted his arm encouragingly, but didn't deny it outright. "Don't worry about it. Here, Ed, you tie some sheets to the bedframe and I'll go on down."

"You'll _what_?"

But she was already moving, hopping onto the windowsill and then right out the window, mindless of the multiple-storey drop. Lissa just used her alchemy to gather the particles in the air and slow her descent, altering the resistance around her and landing soundlessly in the grass below. She looked back up, grinning, to see Ed giving her a _look_. "Be careful," he muttered, and disappeared back inside.

Moments later, a makeshift rope of knotted bedsheets sailed down towards her, and Lissa sucked in a breath, preparing to catch either one of the boys if they fell. But thankfully they both made it down all right, with scarcely a sound.

"You know, I don't get to see you use your alchemy at night very much," Al told Lissa, as they headed away from the hotel. "It looks really pretty… Kinda like starlight."

Lissa waved him off, glad the night was hiding the embarrassed flush to her cheeks. "Shush."

"Huh, I never thought about that." Ed grinned and nudged her in the ribs with his elbow. "It really does look like starlight. Hey, maybe I'll put that in my next report. It can be your alchemist codename after you take your exams."

She rolled her eyes at him. "It'll be something stupid, I know it. You lucked out, but you made an impression on the Führer. Think of Mustang, he got stuck with the most blatant one ever. Or Alex?"

Ed laughed and nodded. "Yeah, poor Major Armstrong. He really didn't make out so well, did he? But I bet yours will be better."

" _If_ I ever get to take my exams," she muttered.

" _When_ ," Ed corrected, slinging his arm around her shoulders. "Now, c'mon. Let's go check out this lab."

Thankfully they all knew Central really well, and with Lissa's habit of sneaking around at night anyway, it was easy to find the Fifth Laboratory even without bringing a map. That particular area of the city didn't have much nightlife, either, meaning they were able to reach their destination without even coming close to being spotted. It was kind of thrilling, honestly, sneaking around like this in the dark. Lissa was accustomed to daylight missions, or at least ones that were aboveboard. This was different.

They approached the walled-off facility from the same block, sneaking across deserted streets and finally pressing into the wall of the Fifth Laboratory, just around the corner from the front gates. Ed peeked around first, eyeing the front entrance. "Hm… A guard posted at an unused building. Interesting."

Lissa peered over his head, frowning at the sight. "Seems weird to assign someone to guard this place if it's empty."

"It's suspicious all right," Al agreed, looking over Lissa as well.

Not wanting to tangle with a guard or risk being spotted, they ducked back down the alley and stayed in the shadows against the wall instead. Lissa had her arms fanned out to her sides slightly, trying to feel for any disturbances in the air that might indicate they'd been found, but she felt nothing. And the walls of the laboratory were too thick for her to sense anything through just yet.

"So, how do we get in?" Al wondered quietly.

Ed furrowed his brow. "We could make our own entrance," he suggested.

But Al shook his head at that. "No, they'd notice the light from the transmutic reaction. We can't risk being spotted."

"Well, in that case…" Ed stared up at the top of the wall thoughtfully.

Lissa smirked. "The old-fashioned way?"

"You got it. Give me a boost, will you, Al? That barbed wire won't do anything to my automail, I'll clear a space for you to get up safely, Liss." Ed gave her a curious look. "Can you get up on your own, or do you need a lift too?"

She crossed her arms. "I'd be pretty bad at my own specialty if I needed help."

Al boosted Ed up with his hands interlocked, and Lissa watched as he carefully landed at the top of the wall, on his left leg and balancing with his right arm. A smooth landing, especially considering he didn't have her advantage. Sometimes she just marveled at his skill—even after years of practice, she knew she really wasn't as good as he was. He had some natural ability she could never quite match.

Once Edward had cleared off some of the barbed wire, he began feeding a strand down towards them, which Lissa took as her cue. She took a bit of a running start, kicked off the wall, and with just the barest hint of a blue flicker—carefully controlled around her body—she landed in the safe space beside him. "Sucks that your alchemy makes such a big reaction," she teased under her breath, grinning when he stuck out his tongue at her.

Lissa jumped right down while Al was still climbing up, not wanting to take up too much space, and kept an eye out while the boys joined her. Once they were all safely down, requiring her to cushion Al's landing to keep his armor quiet, they hurried across the compound and searched out a door.

"Of course," Lissa muttered, staring at the only back door they could find. "It's barricaded against alchemy. Even if we wanted to risk a bigger transmutation, we can't put our hands on it." The entire door was covered in spikes, with three enormous metal rods wrapped all over in barbed wire sealing off the entrance too.

Ed put his thumb and forefinger to his chin as he considered it. "They're not taking any chances, are they?"

"I could do it," Al suggested helpfully.

But Ed turned that down. "The light from the transmutation would still be too noticeable. We need another way in." He looked round for a moment—then pointed at the wall beside the door. "Hey, what about that?"

It was a vent. A small opening in the wall, not even big enough for a fully-grown adult to fit through. Helpfully, Al lifted Ed onto his shoulder so he could take the cover off and assess it, while Lissa watched from the ground. It looked big enough for her and Ed to fit through, if they sort of belly-crawled it, she thought.

Apparently, Ed had the same idea. "Al, you need to wait here," he told his brother firmly.

"You're fine on your own?" Alphonse asked him, sounding worried.

Ed hoisted his torso into the vent and hung there, one foot still resting on Al's shoulder. "Whether I'm fine or not isn't the issue. You're too big to get through here."

Al slumped a bit. "It's not like I asked to get this big," he mumbled sadly.

"Well, I can fit," Lissa pointed out, as Ed dropped back onto Al's shoulder and regarded her for a moment. "At least the two of us can go check it out."

Ed frowned at her. "Yeah, but if we both go then we're screwed if something happens. Al couldn't get in to help us. Liss, why don't you hang out here for half an hour. If I'm not back by then, come in after me, because I've either found something or I'm completely lost, so either way I'll need help. Besides, you'll sense if anyone's coming way earlier than us. We need you to make sure no one finds out we're here."

"But I can't sense anything down in there, Ed," Lissa protested anxiously. "The concrete's too thick, I'm not getting anything. I have no idea what might be inside here."

"I'll be fine. Just half an hour, okay?" He flashed her a grin. "After that you can come chasing after me. Promise."

Lissa rolled her eyes at him. "Dummy. Just look after yourself, okay?"

"I always do, don't I?"

Al glanced at her in a way that told her he was just as unamused by that as she was, but it was too late—Ed hauled himself back into the vent and crawled away, disappearing into the darkness in seconds. Lissa considered just going after him for a moment, but as much as she hated to admit it… He was right. If they both went right in, then they had no backup at all. If it took half an hour before he got a door open or could report back…then something was already going on. They needed that information before the only other person who could fit through the vent followed him in.

Some part of her hoped that he'd come right back, or that the door would burst open—but nearly fifteen minutes passed without a single peep from inside the laboratory, and Lissa thought she'd go _crazy_ with anxiety.

"Dammit," she muttered, sinking down and sitting with her knees to her chest and her back against the wall. "I don't like this, Al. I hate him going in by himself."

"Me too," he admitted, and sat down beside her. "But brother likes to do things on his own."

Lissa scowled down at her hands, tugging on her gloves as though they were the source of her frustration. "He's an idiot. I should've gone with him anyway, it's stupid going in there by himself when he could have a partner."

Al looked down at her, his emotions unfathomable—sometimes she could read him, but sometimes it was just impossible. "You care about him a lot, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Lissa told him, feeling a bit confused. "I care about both of you, you're like family to me. I'd be just as worried about you, Al. But you're smart enough not to go running into places like this by yourself."

He shifted and began to speak—but Lissa jerked her arm out in front of him and cut him off. "Wait. Something's…" She closed her eyes, tried to focus on the feeling that crept up the back of her spine as soon as she released the energy, let go of the faint buzzing around her ears and actually let her senses take over. _I've sensed this before… This exact thing… But where? It's so particular, I know I've felt it before…_

"Did you feel something?" he whispered, trying not to disturb her.

Lissa nodded slowly. "It's…familiar… This is so weird, Al, I know I've felt it before but I can't place it…" She dug her fingernails into the palms of her gloves, trying desperately to focus. "Something's wrong, but it's not inside—I can't sense anything in there, not even Ed."

Al rose to his feet with a few clanks, stepping off the ledge and looking around worriedly. "So it's out here? Is somebody coming?"

"No one entered the compound… We would've heard the gates and I didn't feel it like that…" Lissa leapt up and staggered away from the wall, her adrenaline spiking as she felt something _above_ them. "Alphonse, look out!" She lunged and shoved into him, knocking him back just far enough to avoid the sudden presence hurtling downward at them.

Lissa tucked into a forward roll and spun round, backpedaling beside Al as some guy in armor wielding a damned _cleaver_ began attacking them, much quicker than somebody his size ought to be able to move. She felt Al kick off the ground beside her, and knew he was leaping backwards—so she used a burst of alchemy to boost herself high into the air, flipping once midair and landing _behind_ their assailant, opposite to where Al had landed. Pinning him between them would force him to pick his target and leave something exposed.

"Huh." Their assailant yanked his cleaver free of the dirt and pointed it at Al threateningly. "You move pretty well for your size. If you didn't, though, it wouldn't be worth the effort to cut you down."

 _Rotten meat… He feels like rotten meat and salt and…and choking, like all the air's being squeezed out of my lungs…_

"Who are you?" Al demanded.

"I'm Number Sixty-Six," the armored man told him, almost gleefully. "Well…that's the name they gave me when I came to work here, anyway." He pulled out a second blade, a sort of meat-carving one, and crossed them in front of his face. "I'm going to cut you two up, nice and neat. All you have to do is sit back and scream."

Apparently deciding Al was the more important target—an insult, really—the cleaver-wielding man raced for him first, only to be knocked back with a single, hard punch to the face. He growled and went at Al again, but the second attack worked just as well as the first.

Lissa straightened out of a fighting stance as the armored guy flew past her, glancing up at Al as he stepped to her side, hands still at the ready. "Well, he's a pushover," she noted, watching him picking himself up out of the dirt and running in for another attack. "But…be careful, he's the thing I was sensing before, so I know him from somewhere… I just can't figure it out yet."

"Then I'll buy you time until you put it together," Al told her fiercely, darting in and executing a perfect kick that sent Number Sixty-Six flying yet again.

"Damn it!" he groaned, and leapt to his feet once more. "Why can't ya sit still for a second and let me cut you up, you big bucket of bolts!"

Lissa raised an eyebrow. "We're supposed to just stand here?"

Incensed, the armored man turned to attack her—but that was his mistake. Al lashed out with another well-placed punch, only this time…the man's entire _head_ flew off.

Or…just his helmet.

She took a step back in surprise as Number Sixty-Six stood there, tilted partially towards them to reveal that the inside of his armor was completely hollow.

"You're empty!" Al gasped, looking to Lissa for a moment in shock.

Number Sixty-Six laughed gleefully. "There's a bit of a story behind that. Would ya like to hear?" He crossed the yard and picked up his helmet, but rather than putting it back on, he just tucked it under his arm. "It's a pretty good yarn. You probably already know it, though. It all starts with a man by the name of Barry."

Lissa's whole body went icy cold. "Barry?" she whispered. "No… _No_! You're that—that serial killer from three years ago! You kidnapped Winry! You tried to kill Ed!"

"What?!" Al recoiled in shock. "He's—but how? Are you sure?"

She glowered across at him, recalling the day, finding Edward overcome by sheer terror, cuts all over his body, and _crying_ , something he never did… "Rotten meat," she hissed. "I remember the feeling. Rotten meat and salt and the feeling of suffocating. It's just like what I felt when we found his shop."

Barry—or Number Sixty-Six, as he was called now—let out a maniacal sort of laugh. " _Oh_ , so we've met before have we? Yes, I think I remember now…" He jammed his head back on and his eyes glowed a sinister red. "You're that interfering little brat who kept me from chopping up the blond kid."

Lissa snarled, dropping into a fighting stance immediately. The air around her crackled with transmutic energy. "You fucking piece of shit!" she growled.

"Lissa, stop," Al told her firmly, stepping in front of her. "You need to go find brother. I'll handle this creep, okay? But if we ran into a guard like him out here, then…"

She swallowed hard, trying to push back the tide of anger suddenly threatening to swallow her whole. "Then Ed probably ran into one inside the lab too. Dammit. Are you sure you've got this? Knowing who he is…"

He nodded, full of conviction. "I'm sure. Look after yourself, Lissa."

"You too, Al." She pushed off the ground with a short burst of alchemy, and dragged herself up into the vent just as the two met in battle again, the harsh _clang_ of metal on metal making her flinch in surprise. _He'll be okay,_ she told herself, as she began to crawl along the air vent. _He has to be, Al's plenty strong enough… I just hope knowing who that was didn't unsettle him too much…_

Lissa crawled on her stomach until she reached a vent that had been kicked out, a sense of dread growing deep inside her abdomen as she dropped down and surveyed the hallway she'd come out in. A faint tinge of amber in the air guided her, pulling her down the hall, and with no better options Lissa followed her senses, hoping they'd lead her right. She needed to find Edward. _Now._ If he wasn't already facing another hollow guard, he would be soon, and even if it wasn't an old adversary it could still be a horrifically tough fight. Neither of them could beat Alphonse on their own, so the chances of Ed taking down another soul bound to a suit of armor…

She cursed under her breath and raced down the hall.

A few turns later, Lissa suddenly found herself pressed into the ground by some heavy, awful _force_ , staggering to her knees as the weight of it shoved her down. It was like…what she'd felt at Dr. Marcoh's, only a hundred times stronger… Blood, the sick iron-copper tinge of it, and _death_ , the ashy, throat-clenching feeling of death…

 _What happened here?_

Lissa pushed back her senses, reducing the horrible feeling to that buzzing around her ears and neck simply to find the strength to get back up and keep searching for Ed. There was something terrible about this place, she knew it for sure now. And if she didn't find him soon… But that wasn't an option. She _would_ find him, and if he were in trouble, then she'd save him. No matter what it took. That was the promise she'd made, after all.

The deeper she went into the Fifth Laboratory, the brighter it got—more and more running lights along the walls, near the floor, and even a couple overheads, until finally she found a set of double doors swung open to reveal an enormous stone chamber. Most of the floor was covered by an immense transmutation circle, bloodstained and clearly used, with a pedestal at the very middle.

And at the far end…leaning against a pillar…

"Edward!" Lissa cried, sprinting across and skidding to her knees in front of him, and watched his gaze turn up to her. His eyes were wide, his chest heaving, blood caked down the right side of his face, with visible wounds soaking through his left shoulder and side as well.

"Liss," he gasped at her, his body trembling faintly. "Y-you're here, what…happened, is…"

She gently pressed him back as he attempted to get up, careful to push on his automail instead of his injured shoulder. "Shh, don't try to move… You're hurt, Ed, it's really bad…" Lissa bit back the panicked sob that wanted to scrape past her throat. She had to stay strong, for Ed's sake. No matter how badly she wanted to break down over the state he was in— _bad_ didn't begin to cover it. She had no idea how he was still _conscious_. With trembling hands, she fumbled her handkerchief out of her pocket and began cleaning his face, gently as she could, wiping the blood away from his eye with her other hand resting on his cheek. "I've got to get you out of here," she told him quietly when she was finished. "You need to go to the hospital."

Not wasting any more time, Lissa shifted to a crouch and began to pull Ed's automail arm over her shoulders, pausing every time he winced or made a pained sound. Yet before she even had lifted him away from the pillar, she heard a shout from nearby.

"You can't leave yet," a deep, male voice told her sharply. "Come on, boy. You won. Hurry up and destroy us."

Lissa recoiled and shot to her feet, hands up and ready for a fight—but the voice was coming from the shattered suit of armor lying a few feet away. "Hang on…" She scowled down at the pieces in frustration. "You're Number Sixty-Six's partner, aren't you? Another soul bonded to a suit of armor left to guard this place. Right?"

"Close," the voice told her, emanating from the helmet.

"We're two souls bonded to parts of the armor," a slightly higher voice added on, this one coming from the torso.

She wrinkled her nose and crouched back down beside Ed. "Two souls? Shit. We only had one to face outside, I think." Lissa hoped that it was just the one creepy asshole—otherwise she'd left Alphonse to something _much_ worse than she'd originally assumed.

Ed looked up at her anxiously. "Is Alphonse okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine… It seems like this guy was much worse, the one we encountered wasn't anywhere near as good as Al." Lissa shifted her attention to the wound on Ed's side, finally piecing it together with the wickedly sharp katana she saw lying discarded beside this suit of armor's…broken bits. He'd been injured by a _sword_. "Ed…let me see your side, please," she murmured.

He winced, but obeyed anyway and gingerly lifted up the side of his shirt for her to see. Lissa sucked in a sharp breath as soon as she saw the laceration. It had to have been almost a direct hit, but by some luck it had gone straight across, not _in_ , because if that sword had actually pierced him… She cut off the thought. "This needs to be bandaged," she observed quietly, catching his wrist before he could lower his shirt. "I know it's not ideal, but…" Lissa touched her hands to the base of her shirt and transmuted it, quick as she could, creating a couple long strips of fabric and leaving her stomach exposed. Then she bound Ed around his middle, as tightly as she dared without restricting his breathing, just to keep pressure on the wound.

"Thank you," he breathed, finally letting his shirt drop. "I'm sorry, I did my best… I think I damaged my automail again too, Winry's gonna kill me."

Lissa shook her head fiercely. "Don't say that. You took out these guys, that's plenty. And now we've seen this transmutation circle, so we know the stone was created here too, we've learned a lot already. But we have to _go_ , I'm worried about all the blood you've lost. Are you lightheaded?"

He grimaced at her. "Unfortunately, yeah. But, Liss… If I get up right now I might pass out, honestly."

"Shit." Lissa sank back onto her heels as she considered that. "Okay, two minutes. And if you still feel like that, I'll just use alchemy to get us out. Screw being spotted, we can't worry about that now, not when you're this injured." She sat down beside him and eyed the two pieces of Ed's adversary. "Who are these guys, anyway?"

"Number Forty-Eight, they said," he told her, shrugging with his right shoulder only. "Apparently the people running this place stuck convicts' souls into armor to use as guards."

Lissa thought of Barry the Chopper up above and shuddered. "That's creepy." She nudged the base of Number Forty-Eight's torso with the tip of her finger. "Hey, Forty-Eight… Why do you want to be killed so badly? Wouldn't you want to get your armor fixed up and go back to…whatever it is you do?"

"And what sort of life do we have?" the head demanded sharply. "You should just kill us and be done with it."

"No," Ed told him firmly. "We're not murderers."

The head scoffed at him, almost offended by the claim. "With bodies like these, are we really even people?"

He looked down at his lap for a moment, his expression darkening. "I consider you people whether you have physical bodies or not. If I didn't that would mean I didn't believe my own brother is a person either." Ed looked up and scowled at the pieces of Number Forty-Eight. "I know that my little brother is a human being. That means you guys are humans too. I will not take the life of another person."

Lissa rested her hand on his leg, feeling the way his muscles trembled beneath her palm though his voice remained steady. It was all he could do just to keep it together, she knew that much. Fine. If she had to use alchemy to clear a path out of here and carry Ed out herself, so be it.

Suddenly, Forty-Eight's head began to _laugh_. Loudly, raucously, like that was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

"Brother?" the torso questioned, baffled.

Lissa exchanged a confused look with Ed, utterly lost as to what was so damned funny here.

"My brother and I have been lying, stealing, cheating, and killing together for as long as we can remember," Number Forty-Eight's head told them. "And now that we're in these pseudo-bodies, we're being treated like _humans_ for the first time." He barked a laugh. "Don't you see the irony?"

She felt… _something_ , nearby, inside the facility… Something that felt like… _writhing_ … "Ed," she tried to whisper—but her voice came out hoarse and too quiet to hear.

"For that, boy, I'll give you a parting gift. I'll tell you everything," the head offered, like it was an enormous concession. Maybe it was, Lissa didn't know or care. She was paralyzed with a sudden onslaught of fear, her senses pushing _past_ her usual block to scream at her to run—but her body wouldn't cooperate. "I'll tell you who made the Philosopher's Stone and ordered us to guard this place."

Out of the darkness of the doorway, two long, ribbon-like tendrils with wickedly sharp edges raced forward, and stabbed clean through Forty-Eight's head.

Ed recoiled into the pillar as a woman with long, dark hair and bright red lipstick painted on stepped into the entryway, the spear-tendrils retreating into her gloved hand as though they were part of her, yanking the helmet along through the air like a toy. "My, that was a close call," she all but purred. "Number Forty-Eight, you should know better than to talk about things that don't concern you."

Another person appeared behind her—this one skinnier, but still muscular, with dark hair falling in spikes from their head. Lissa couldn't quite pin a gender down. "Well, well, would you look at that," they crowed. "What's the Fullmetal pipsqueak and his little girlfriend doing here?"

The woman clicked her tongue. "Such troublesome children. Tell me, how did you find out about this place?"

Still pierced by her spear-hands, Forty-Eight's head let out a cry of distress—moments before she snapped him in two, severing his blood seal and killing him instantly. Lissa flinched when Ed did, knowing they were both thinking of Alphonse in that moment, of what could happen if he suffered the same fate…

When Forty-Eight's torso began to yell for his brother, panicking, the second creature—for they didn't feel _human_ , they felt so very different—crossed the room and snatched up the discarded katana, which they began to stab furiously into the blood seal at the back of the armor. "Quit your pathetic blubbering, you idiot!" they snapped. "You were trying to kill one of our most important sacrifices! Do you understand me?! You could've messed up the entire plan! What would we have done then, huh?!"

 _Sacrifices?!_

Lissa focused for just a moment, risking the loss of control, and got a burst of blood and that horrid _writhing_ sensation, like worms, hundreds and hundreds of worms wriggling in the dirt, before she snapped her senses closed and returned to herself.

What the fuck _were_ these two?!

They both strode across the room, the shorter of the two slinging the katana across their back like it was nothing, coming to stand before Ed and Lissa like they were in complete control.

Incensed, Ed struggled to his feet and stared them down. "Tell me who you people are," he demanded, panting hard. "What plan are you talking about? What do you mean when you say _important sacrifice_?"

"Oh, my," the spiky-haired one laughed, getting right into Ed's face. "The pipsqueak's rarin' to go. I think I made it angry!"

Lissa grabbed Ed's arm and tried to pull him away, but he didn't budge. "Don't call me pipsqueak again," he snapped, through gritted teeth. This was his sore spot—the one thing he just couldn't take. Having his size insulted. And this creature seemed to know that all too well.

They grinned even wider. "Then what would you prefer? Eh, _pipsqueak_?"

She sensed the displacement in the air as Ed shifted, prepared to strike, and yanked back on his arm hard enough to stumble him backwards a few steps. "Ed, _no_!" she told him fiercely, putting her arm in front of him. "You're too hurt for a fight!"

The creature snickered and backed away, nodding in agreement. "Listen to your little girlfriend, she's right. There's no need to fight here. Someone might get hurt, you know."

"This is a fight that _you_ started!" Ed snarled, clapping his hands together and lunging past Lissa's hold. "So come on!" But then, with a sharp metallic _clang_ , his automail arm gave out and swung uselessly to his side, completely immobile.

The woman eyed him dully. "Technical difficulties?"

"Lucky me!" the other one cackled, dancing forward—but Lissa stepped into their path and squared her shoulders, putting herself directly in front of Ed.

"Well, I'm _not_ having technical difficulties," she sneered. Lissa rolled forward, the air sparkling with blue energy as she slipped between air particles and shot to her feet in a twist, ramming her foot directly into the side of the spiky-haired creature's head. They staggered backwards a couple steps, more amused than injured, while Lissa sank into a fighting stance and readied herself.

 _Dammit! They're so solid, I don't think that hurt them at all!_

"Wow, who knew the little girl had it in her?" they snickered, grinning at her. "You gonna defend your boyfriend then, hm? I wouldn't recommend it."

Lissa stared them down, trying to pretend she wasn't afraid—even though she was _terrified_. "What the hell are you two, anyway?" she demanded, in an attempt to buy her some time. She had to keep Ed safe, somehow, until she figured a way out of here. But she'd be damned if she let that creature get one hand on him… "I can tell you aren't human, so what are you, then?"

The woman gave her a curious look, as though she hadn't expected that. "We knew you were an excellent potential sacrifice… But I have to say, that's quite a leap to make. I'm impressed."

So she hadn't denied it…but she hadn't answered, either. Yet she'd given _something_ away—that Lissa was some kind of potential sacrifice, whatever the hell that meant. Maybe she could keep them talking until she found an escape. "It's not so hard," she sneered. "With those—spears or whatever of yours. Pretty obvious to me. You don't even seem human at all." Behind her, she heard Ed's breathing increase, felt it brushing against the back of her neck—she'd remembered to put her hair in a ponytail at least—and her pulse kicked up immediately. This was taking too damn long!

Lissa growled to herself and twisted her hands midair, summoning the particles she could find in the air to use for an attack—but a yelp from behind her cut her off immediately.

She turned, her heartbeat pounding in her head, to see the woman had extended one of her spears and jabbed it up against Ed's wound, nearly through the makeshift bandages Lissa had applied, not quite piercing him yet but making the threat very clear. "I won't kill him," the woman told her softly, "but I can make this _much_ worse before he's in danger of dying. Do we understand each other?"

Ed cringed away from the spear, but another slipped in behind him and jabbed against the wound in his shoulder, making him cry out. "Don't—don't worry about me, Lissa," he ground out, though the extra pain made him shiver all over. "I'll be f- _fine_!"

"I wouldn't be so sure," the woman murmured.

Lissa bared her teeth, furious and helpless all at once. She was torn between trying to free Ed or giving up, knowing damn well he wanted her to fight, though she doubted he'd stay conscious if that woman made his wounds worse—but she didn't get the chance to make up her mind. A hand snagged the back of her ponytail and yanked her head back. Lissa tried to wrench free, heard Ed yell her name, but she didn't make it in time.

The knee rammed into her chest with a _crack_ , and Lissa knew immediately they'd broken her ribs. She knew that pain. She coughed as she sank to her knees, stunned into submission, and watched blood splatter on the floor in front of her. _That's bad… That's really bad…_

"Lissa!"

"Ed, _no_ , wait-"

With a horrid ripping sound, Ed tore past the woman's spears and flung himself down beside her. She knew he'd ripped his bandages, she could see fresh blood trickling down over his belt, but he didn't seem to notice. "Liss, talk to me, are you okay?"

She lifted her head and scowled at him, aware of blood trickling down from the corner of her mouth. " _Idiot_ ," she snapped, though the act of speaking made her chest burn. "Why did you-" But she broke off and coughed deeply, the first threads of true panic taking hold in her mind as she spat out more blood. How was she ever going to get him out now?

"You piece of shit!" Ed snarled, trying to shove back to his feet. "I'll fucking kill you!"

The same creature who had attacked Lissa knocked him back down in an instant, and Lissa watched, horrorstruck, as Edward collapsed beside her, his breathing shallow and his eyes fluttering. "Liss…get…get out of…here…"

She felt her arms shudder and give out, and crashed down beside him. In her last few seconds of consciousness, with darkness crawling into her vision, her whole body giving up, Lissa fought her way to Ed and curled her body over his, unable to do anything more. _I'm so sorry… I failed… I couldn't protect you… I'm so sorry, Ed…_

Distantly, echoing as if through a tunnel, Lissa heard the woman say, "Blow it up."

Then darkness took her, and she fell unconscious.


	15. Matters of the Soul

I almost want to call this a "filler" chapter, but it isn't, quite - it's just got everything but major action. Why does the aftermath of the Fifth Laboratory take so long, seriously? I'm just impatient to get to Dublith, honestly, that's one of my favorite sequences and it's SO CLOSE but so very far... Anyway! On the last chapter I got one of the absolute kindest reviews I've ever received from lakomysh, and it has me all inspired and whatnot - I'm already working through the next chapter, so it should be up within the next few days! They mentioned how Lissa fits into the world and I swear, it made my freaking soul happy because I have worked SO damn hard stitching together scenes, trying to make the world flow and make her fit into the story well. Soooo you guys can thank lakomysh when I update early. And thank you to EVERYONE who has reviewed/favorited/followed, it makes me the happiest authoress alive!

* * *

Lissa awoke with a harsh gasp that sent pain radiating through her chest, but she ignored it and pushed upright anyway, coughing at the tightness banded like iron all across her chest, just like…

 _The Fifth Laboratory._

Memories tumbled to place inside her head—Alphonse, fighting Barry the Chopper, the same horrible serial killer who had nearly killed Edward years ago… Sneaking through the vents, finding that room and the giant transmutation circle… Finding Ed injured, and…

 _Ed!_

She turned, realizing with a jolt she was in a hospital bed, and would've swung her legs right out if she hadn't seen a flash of golden-blond hair in her vision. Edward lay unconscious or asleep in the bed next to hers, bandaged around his head, his automail arm in a sling, with visible bandages poking out on his left from underneath the pale blue hospital-provided shirt he was in. Just the sight of him was enough for her to lay back into her pillows and try to breathe, though every inhale was agonizing. Her ribs really had to be broken, then.

Lissa had no idea how they'd ended up here, in the hospital, instead of trapped beneath the Fifth Laboratory. Somehow they'd gotten out… And she had a horrible, slimy feeling it was because of one of those _things_ , the creatures they'd encountered.

Her heart felt twisted up in her chest, and it had nothing to do with her broken ribs. Lissa had never seen Ed that injured… She had seen him after plenty of fights, helped patch him up more times than she could even count anymore, but for him to actually fall unconscious, to be cut up that badly, dizzy and lightheaded from blood loss, his skin pale and his eyes glassy… It _terrified_ her.

She rolled over, ignoring the sharp pain in her chest, and stared at his face just to reassure herself. He looked peaceful now, breathing evenly, his forehead smooth. She could feel the soft disturbances in the air every time he inhaled and exhaled, and she focused on that, tried to let it lull her into some kind of composure… It was enough that he was alive and safe now. They both were, somehow.

But…where was Al?

Lissa frowned and curled her knees up towards her chest. Surely it would be a bigger deal if something had happened to him, right? Or…would anybody know yet? How long had it been since they'd escaped their hotel room and snuck to Laboratory Five? She had no sense of time or what day it was by now. What if he was missing?

 _No, that's stupid. Al's just fine, he probably felt awkward sitting in here while we slept, or maybe it was distressing him to see Ed like this…_

Panic began to take hold of her mind, and Lissa watched, almost detached, as her hands began to tremble where they sat atop the blankets.

She clenched her teeth hard and pushed upright, though it _hurt_ , it hurt so badly it made her muscles quiver—but she managed it, and somehow it made her feel ridiculously proud, like she'd won a major victory. Even though she'd just sat up in a stupid bed. She was just so overwhelmed, terrified, worried for Ed and Al, and distantly for herself… She was confused and hurting and she didn't know what else to do but seek comfort.

Lissa staggered to her feet and shuffled across to the other bed, her breath hitching in a sob of both fear and pain as she stumbled the last step, bumping hard into the edge and grabbing the headboard for support.

Ed's eyes snapped open. "Liss? Where—what are you…" He looked around quickly, gold eyes darting as he took in the situation much faster than she had. "We got out. Shit. How…" Then his gaze alighted on her again, and his expression softened. "Oh, Lissa… Hey, what's wrong? What's going on? Are you okay?"

She couldn't speak—she just shook her head as tears blurred her vision.

He shifted backwards in the bed, scooting to the far edge, and flipped the blankets back. "Come on, Liss, just come lay here with me… It's okay, we're safe now…"

Lissa swallowed hard and crawled up beside him, pressing her face into his collarbone as her tears got the best of her and spilled down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she choked, even as he rested his chin atop her head and pulled her in closer. "I couldn't protect you… I tried, I swear, I tried but I…I _failed_ , Ed…"

"You didn't _fail_ at anything," he murmured. She could feel his lips brushing her hair as he spoke. "Dammit, Liss… You got hurt protecting me. _Again_. I should be the one apologizing to you."

She clenched her fingers down on his shirt and shook her head. "Don't you dare," Lissa told him fiercely, sniffing back her tears. She didn't want to cry all over him, no matter how difficult it was to stop now that she'd started. "Don't you _dare_ apologize. I don't give a damn that I got hurt, as long as you're okay."

Ed sighed deeply, but when he spoke, she could hear in his voice he was smiling. "What am I gonna do with you, huh?" He slid his arm underneath her, his left arm, and tugged her in against his chest. "You're always putting yourself in danger to look after me."

"You do the same for me," she pointed out quietly. From where she was, she could hear his heartbeat and it was so soothing, the constant reminder that he was here, alive…

"I think you get hurt more, though." He stroked his hand up and down her spine, ever so gently, and Lissa felt her eyes closing. She still ached, she was _exhausted_ down to her bones, and laying like this was just so comfortable and warm that it was lulling her to sleep. Like he'd read her mind, Ed rested his hand on the back of her head and murmured, "Just rest, okay? I'm right there with you."

She gave up the fight and tucked her head in against his collarbone, wanting to be as close as possible. "Don't go crawling off through any vents by yourself."

He snickered, amused. "Promise."

—

"Should we wake them?"

"I dunno… Aw, man, I wish I had my camera…"

"But then we might get murdered. Violently."

" _Or_ we'd get some great blackmail material. Think positively."

Lissa felt Ed's chest rumble beneath her when he talked, and she hid her grin in the fabric of his shirt. "If anyone takes any photos," he warned lowly, "I'll punch them in the face with my automail. I swear I will."

Even though she still hurt, pretty much all over, waking up curled together with Ed this way was…so wonderful. She just felt so _safe_ here with him. Lissa hardly wanted to let go, but she knew it was pretty compromising for Ross and Brosh to have found them like this in the first place, so she went to pull back—only to feel Edward's arm tighten around her before she could so much shift an inch. Either he was feeling possessive…or he'd been just as terrified as her, back in the lab. Maybe he needed the comfort as much as she did.

"But, sir… Your automail isn't working, is it?" Ross edged.

Lissa bit back a surprised laugh. The Second Lieutenant was right, though she didn't think Ed would appreciate the reminder much. Very brave of her.

"When it's fixed, then."

Ross just pressed onward like he hadn't spoken. "Anyway, the Sergeant and I just wanted to check in. We'll be standing guard outside, but for right now, you're under orders from the doctor to just take it easy. So we'll leave you alone—but we're close if you need anything. Just shout for us."

Both soldiers left then, true to their word, and when the door clicked shut behind them Lissa felt a sudden wave of nerves crawl into her stomach. Last night, it had been easy to do this, to just…be close. She was so scared and still panicking from what had happened in the Fifth Laboratory that there was nothing else in her mind beyond her fears and the instant comfort Ed brought her. But now, in the daylight, it felt…different.

"Boundaries," Ed muttered. "Seriously." He shifted back and smiled down at her, far more at ease than she felt. "How's your chest feeling, Liss? If you're in too much pain, we can call the doctor in or something, see if they can change the meds you're on."

She forced herself to sit upright and shake her head. "No, it's okay. It's better today, and besides, I don't feel like being doped up just for a few broken ribs." As he sat up beside her, adjusting the sling holding his automail up, a thought occurred to her—so late it made her feel horribly guilty. "Is…is Al around somewhere? I thought he'd be hovering, he's always so protective…"

Edward's face fell. "He…was here last night for a bit, while you were asleep… But he's been staying out of the room. I dunno why, to be honest. He's acting weird."

"Did he not…tell you about…" Lissa swallowed hard, suddenly realizing exactly why Alphonse might be acting strangely. When Ed just gave her a confused look, she nodded slowly, accepting that she had to tell him. "Ed… Number Sixty-Six, the armor-bonded soul Al fought at the lab… He was the disembodied soul of Barry the Chopper. The serial killer."

His face turned ashen, his eyes shooting wide. "It was… But…" Ed pressed his hand over his face. "I didn't know, Al didn't say anything about it… No wonder he's shaken up, I'd be…I'd be a mess…"

"I'm glad you didn't have to face him," Lissa told him quietly, folding her hands in her lap. "I really am, I don't… I don't want you to have to go through that. But I don't know what happened to him, hell, I don't even know how we got out of there."

Ed winced. "One of those…things got us out. Al told me the one with the spiky hair carried us both out."

"Ew," she muttered, feeling sick just at the thought of it. "Those… _things_ … They felt _awful_ , Ed, like nothing I'd ever felt before…" She shuddered and closed her eyes a moment. "They weren't human. I can tell you that much. They didn't even bother denying it, anyway."

"And they called us _sacrifices_ , whatever the hell that means." Ed pulled a face. "Man, I'd love to bounce some of this off Al, since he _didn't_ get the shit kicked out of him, but…"

Lissa touched his hand lightly. "Maybe Ross or Brosh can go find him for us."

"Nah, I'll let him have some time… It must've been pretty shocking to fight that guy. He'll come around soon." Ed leaned back into his pillows and sighed, staring up at the ceiling and absently putting his hand near the wound on his side. "Ouch. I wasn't supposed to sit up like that yet."

"Dummy," she chided. "Then don't. I saw that wound, you really need to be careful until it heals up more."

He stuck his tongue out at her. "Says the one with three broken ribs."

Lissa rolled her eyes. "Only three."

"Only?!"

She giggled and lay back down beside him, tucking herself in against his side and shushing him. "I'm just messing with you. Anyway, it really _isn't_ that bad. I thought it was worse than three broken ribs, honestly."

Ed frowned at her. "So did I, Liss. You have gotta stop jumping in front of danger for me."

"I will if you do."

"Lissa…"

He shook his head wearily, but didn't argue the point any further. He just wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in closer—and then, ever so softly, he pressed a kiss against the top of her head. It took every ounce of her self-control to keep still, to stop herself from reacting somehow.

 _It's nothing, Lissa. Absolutely fucking nothing. Stop being an idiot. Why would you read into that anyway, what the hell is wrong with you?_

It had to be nothing. For both their sakes, it had to be _nothing_ , because there just wasn't room for _something_. Not with everything the boys were facing, not with the road still ahead of them—if Lissa dared for one second to think it was _something_ , she'd have to let go of her position as Ed's trainee, because she couldn't afford to be a distraction for him. She couldn't bring herself to do that to him.

So Lissa stayed still, and didn't acknowledge the gesture, didn't do anything but lie there and hate herself.

—

Within a couple days, Lissa and Edward were cleared to move around a bit. In that time, they'd been berated heavily by Ross and Brosh—for acting like children and not considering the consequences of their actions—and been checked out numerous times by doctors. Lissa had three broken ribs, like Ed told her, and one had pierced her lung just slightly, which explained why she'd coughed up blood down in the Fifth Laboratory. Overall, it hadn't been too severe, though, and she was healing well so they figured she was out of the woods. Ed had stitches, on both the wound on his side and on his shoulder, though the latter had only taken a couple. He was supposed to take it easy for at least a few more days, to let his body heal up, but he was able to at least leave the room and call Winry up to take a look at his automail.

The Fifth Laboratory, Lissa learned, had been destroyed. So that woman, the female creature down in the lab, really had blown it up. There was nothing left, not now. Teams were searching the rubble, but the chances of them finding anything were slim, apparently. It was totally demolished.

And in all that time…Al only came to the room twice.

The first time, he came in to make sure Lissa really was all right, and check in on Ed—while the second time Lissa woke up to see him leaving while Ed watched him dejectedly. "I'm worried about him," she murmured, as the door clicked shut and they watched Al's armor body walk off through the clouded glass of the door.

"Me too," Ed sighed, leaning back into his pillows. "I'd go after him, but after I ripped my stitches yesterday they'll hardly let me out of bed. He didn't listen when I told him to come sit in here, either."

She'd been pretty pissed when he came back from calling Winry with his stitches ripped, bleeding through his undershirt. Lissa had smacked him in the face with a pillow for it, the safest angry rebuke she could think of at the time. Not her proudest moment.

"Why don't I go check on him? I'm feeling better anyway. It'll be nice to get out of this stuffy room for a bit, and I can see what's going on." Lissa felt guilty for Al's state of mind, too, considering she'd left him alone with that serial killer and fled inside. She rather thought it was her fault if Barry the Chopper had said anything to upset him this badly.

"You sure, Liss? You said your chest still hurt pretty bad yesterday," Ed observed, frowning at her.

But she just waved him off. "It's way better today. I'll be fine, I promise—and maybe I can get Al to come sit in here, he's got to be lonely out there by himself so many days in a row." Lissa swung out of her bed and stood up, feeling the faintest protest from her ribs at the movement, but it really _wasn't_ that bad. Nothing like it had been a few days ago. Really, it verged on healing _too_ fast, almost alarmingly so, but Lissa was just grateful not to be in so much pain anymore. She got injured a lot, she figured her body was just adapting to it.

Lissa bypassed Ross and Brosh as she left, who were both giving them a bit more freedom now, at least, so she was able to so seek Al out on her own. It was kind of nice to just…have some time away from everything, if she were being honest with herself. A little solitude could be a good thing, in small increments.

After a little searching, Lissa found Al sitting on a bench in a dark hallway, his head bowed, arms resting on his knees. "Al?" She stepped closer to him, worried.

He looked up at her in surprise. "Oh, Lissa. Hi."

"Hey… Are you okay?" Lissa felt oddly…unsettled as she approached, when she'd never felt anything negative from him before. She opened up her extra senses just enough to feel him out—his soul always felt _familiar_ , like parchment and ink and the crackling of a fireplace, but right now he felt…strange, somehow. She couldn't place it.

Al nodded. "I'm fine. I'm sorry if I worried you."

She frowned at him, bothered by the way he was acting… All formal and stilted. Lissa crossed what little distance remained and sat down next to him, though she closed her senses back off to respect his privacy. "Alphonse… If something's wrong, you can tell me… If it's something to do with that serial killer I understand not telling Ed, but…"

"It's not." He looked away from her then, at the cracked mirror across the hall. "I just…wanted to give you and brother some space."

"Space?" Lissa stared up at him, baffled. "We don't need _space_. Why would you think that? Hasn't Ed been pestering you to come sit with us ever since we got here? Neither of us needs distance from you, that's not true at all." She reached out and rested her hand on his shoulder, just below the row of spikes, wishing desperately he could feel it. She cared so much for both of the boys—and it hurt really badly sometimes to think that she'd never gotten to actually hug Al, not once, not when he could feel it. How strange must it feel to have a friend he'd never actually been able to touch?

When he didn't reply, merely shrugged at her, Lissa stood up so she could look him in the eyes and asked him firmly, "What did he say to you? What's going on, Al? I'm not stupid, I _know_ something happened out there. It's my fault for leaving you, so can't I at least try and help?"

"You didn't do anything wrong," he told her quietly, shaking his head. "I was fine, I had it handled." Al shifted and sat up straight, past where she could look at him directly. "You should go back to the room. I doubt brother wants to be alone right now."

"I'll go if you come in for a bit," Lissa bargained, crossing her arms. "This isn't like you, I know something's wrong and I can't just— _ignore_ it. I care about you too much for that."

He sighed deeply, seeming just…wearied, somehow, like something was weighing on him. But then he nodded his acceptance. "Okay. I'll come by the room in a bit. I promise. I just…need a minute, that's all."

Lissa had the feeling it was the biggest concession she'd get, so she decided to take it, even though it wasn't really enough. "Okay… Please do. And, Alphonse…" She tapped his chest plate gently. "If you need someone to talk to, you can always come to me. You're my friend—my _family_ too, just like Ed." She lifted onto her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, before leaving the darkened hallway and heading back to the room. It hurt, to leave him like that, but she just…knew she wouldn't get anywhere.

When she pushed past the door, back into hers and Ed's room, he sat up hopefully—only to turn crestfallen when he saw she was alone. "Oh. Did you find Al?"

"I did…" Lissa sank onto the edge of his bed and sighed. "He's…acting so weird, Ed. I'm not sure what's going on, but I don't like this. It isn't like him to be so distant. I tried to get him to talk to me, but…" She twisted her fingers into the hem of her shirt, feeling inadequate for what they were facing. "He said he'd come to the room, at least… Just that…he needed a minute first."

"That's pretty much what he said to me, and I…" Ed trailed off as the door swung open, and Sergeant Brosh and one of the nurses walked in. Ed pulled a face immediately. "Time to change my bandages?" he guessed.

The nurse inclined her head. "Right."

He sighed and unbuttoned the vest-like hospital shirt he'd been wearing, shrugging it off his left shoulder first. When he struggled a bit with the right, Lissa took pity on him and reached over to assist, helping him navigate the cloth sling and his useless automail. She was glad for the nurse and Brosh being there—after all, it made the whole thing a bit clinical rather than intimate.

While the nurse changed his bandages, exposing the stitches briefly and cleaning the area, Lissa watched intently to try and learn how to do it herself. She didn't think Ed would tolerate sitting around here much longer, and she was determined to take care of him once they left the hospital. At the very least she could do that, since she'd failed to keep him safe in Laboratory Five. Lissa _still_ felt guilty over that, even though he'd sworn up and down it wasn't her fault.

"Man, that looks nasty," Brosh observed, wincing as he saw the laceration on Edward's side.

He glanced down at it and wrinkled his nose. "Ugh. That's gonna leave a scar, isn't it?" Ed muttered irritably. "One more for the collection, I guess."

Brosh winked. "But I thought girls were supposed to think scars are attractive. Isn't that right, Lissa?"

She dug her fingernails into the palm of her hand to keep from blushing. "So I've heard."

The Sergeant took that as a _yes_ , somehow, and nudged Ed's arm with a stupid grin on his face. "See? Nothing to worry about."

Ed just rolled his eyes and gave Lissa a knowing look—apparently missing the vague discomfort she felt at the insinuation. Brosh seemed to be trying to set Ed up with _someone_ , _anyone_ , and it was…embarrassing. Not just for him but for her, because every damn time the Sergeant decided to focus on her it was all she could do not to blush.

The nurse finished and left Ed to get dressed, but he hadn't so much as picked up his shirt when the door banged open.

Lissa looked up in surprise to see Winry walking in with Ross and Alex behind her, her face sorrowful and anxious as she dropped her rectangular repair case on the floor and stared at them both. "Oh, no," she breathed. "What happened?"

Ed grinned nervously. "Well, that didn't take long. You're gonna charge me an express service fee now, aren't you?"

But Winry just bowed her head sadly. "No, I… I won't charge you for this." She wrung her hands together, visibly upset, and Lissa stood up from the bed with the intention to go see if she was all right. "I…didn't do a good enough job on your automail last time," the blonde murmured. "And now you're badly injured. Both of you are."

"It's not your fault!" Ed told her quickly, waving his hand to emphasize his point. "You can't blame yourself for this! I-I broke it because I was being reckless, your repairs were flawless as ever. This was all _my_ fault!"

Lissa stifled a grin at his desperation, aware everyone else was still peeved at them for running off like that. If he hadn't taken responsibility…well…it wouldn't have been pretty.

"Besides, if my arm hadn't broken when it did," he continued, still in that too-high desperate tone, "I would've kept fighting, and then I would've been hurt even worse!" Ed gave a nervous little laugh. "So—so don't worry about it. Okay?"

Winry snapped out of it in seconds, grinning and all but skipping over to the bed. "Well then, let's go ahead and get right down to business, shall we? I'll have to charge you the usual rush order fee, of course."

 _That was…quite a change._ Lissa cut her a suspicious look, wondering. _Did she… Was she covering for herself?_

But the moment was broken when Winry noticed Ed's empty lunch tray—empty, save for the bottle of milk still sitting there, the bane of his existence. Lissa had spotted him glowering at it earlier like it had been placed on his tray just to mess with him, and hadn't bothered with the old argument. But she could see in a heartbeat that Winry had no such qualms.

"You didn't drink your milk," she muttered, glaring at him.

He gritted his teeth and looked away pointedly. "Why should I? I hate it."

While Winry, Alex, and even Ross and Brosh all attempted to convince Ed to drink the milk—really, a lost cause!—Lissa felt the faintest disturbance in the air. She looked away from the chaos beside her to see the door cracked open just a few centimeters, enough for someone to peer inside.

 _Alphonse?_

Suddenly, the door snapped shut again and Al's unmistakable footsteps clanked away.

"Was that Al?" Ed wondered aloud, frowning.

Lissa wanted to go after him, but the moment was broken when Winry insisted it was time for her to get to work. So while the soldiers cleared out, Lissa hunted down a small table Winry could use for Ed's arm, and helped him lie flat on his stomach without ripping his stitches _again_. By the time she'd done that, Winry was set up and ready to get started, so Lissa stepped back to watch without interfering.

"So why didn't Al come in?" Winry asked curiously, as she got to work, first testing the automail's flexibility and movement of the joints.

Ed let out a weary sigh. "I dunno. He's barely been in here at all since we ended up in this hospital anyway." From her angle, Lissa could only see his shoulders slump, though she could guess the dejected look on his face. "I just don't get it. Al's been acting really weird lately."

"Weird how?" Winry asked. Lissa caught her reaching into the pocket of her apron and pulling out a screw, which she carefully screwed into Ed's arm. She didn't call her out, though.

"Just seems like something's been bothering him," Ed mumbled, ducking his face further into the pillow.

Winry raised an eyebrow. "And did you ask him about it?"

"'Course I did. Liss and I both tried to get him to talk to us, but he won't say a word about it. He keeps saying he's fine." Ed winced as she tugged on his arm, but didn't complain. "I've never had him shut down like this… I'm getting kinda worried, to be honest."

She pulled out a rag and doused it with the contents of a tiny jar, and began to wipe the automail down. Where she wiped, the metal gleamed like new, almost disconcertingly shiny. "I'm sure he'll come around, he always does. Maybe he just feels like he's crowding everyone in here, it's not exactly a big enough room for your whole entourage."

"Entourage," Lissa snorted. "That makes it sound way better than it is. It's pretty stifling."

"At least you've got people looking after you," Winry pointed out brightly. She sat back and stuffed the cloth away then, beginning to pack up her things. "Okay, you're all set, Ed."

He sat up immediately, though Lissa narrowed her eyes at him—it was too fast to be moving with his damn stitches still in—and began rotating the joint, complimenting Winry on her work and chucking the sling off into the far corner of the room. He really _had_ hated wearing that thing, she knew, so she didn't really blame him.

For the millionth time, the door burst open—but this time, it wasn't anyone Lissa expected. "Yo! Ed, my boy!" Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes greeted, grinning widely at him. "Is it true you brought a pretty blonde girl into your room to service you?"

Ed's entire face turned bright red. "She's just my automail mechanic, that's all! Nothing more!" he insisted angrily.

Hughes eyed him thoughtfully then. "Oh, I see. You've seduced your mechanic, have you?"

Lissa stared down at her socked feet, wondering why the whole thing made her so…uncomfortable. It _would_ make sense, honestly, since they'd grown up together… No matter Ed's vehement and continued denial, she could…understand that. And it'd be good. No battlefield distractions to speak of.

Ignoring Ed's frustration, Hughes bounded across and shook Winry's hand eagerly. "Maes Hughes. I'm pleased to meet you, young lady."

Winry beamed at him. "You too. I'm Winry Rockbell."

"Nice to see ya, Hughes," Ed grumbled, still a bit sore about his earlier comments. "But don't you have work to do?"

Hughes laughed and shook his head. "No, it's all under control. I gave Sheska some overtime."

Poor Sheska. Ed had contrived to give her a job working under Hughes, since she remembered plenty of military files too—but Hughes was a bit of a slave driver, and the woman constantly seemed to be drowning in work. At least it played to her strengths.

"You're a real jerk, aren't you?" Ed muttered to him.

Carrying on like he'd never spoken, Hughes added, "Oh, yeah! And I think you'll be happy to know—I just found out you three shouldn't need to be kept under guard for too much longer."

Lissa perked right up at that. "Really? You're sure?"

Hughes nodded brightly.

"Great!" Ed grinned up at Lissa happily. "Finally, ugh, it'll be nice to get our damned freedom back."

Winry's jaw dropped. "What'd you say?" She glared down at Ed. "Hold on just a second! How much trouble have you gotten yourself into _this_ time, Edward Elric? What did you do that warranted your dumb ass being _guarded_?"

"Uh… Well, y'see, it's…" He drew himself up and turned away from her, folding his arms over his chest. "Well… It's nothing that concerns you."

For a moment, it looked like Winry might argue—but then she straightened and looked away from him irritably. "Of course not. I don't know why I bother to try. It's not like you'll talk to me, anyway. The only one who's ever bothered to call me is Lissa." She sighed, giving up, and grabbed up her repair case and slung it over her shoulder. "Fine, then. I'll see you tomorrow. I have to go and see if I can find someplace to stay tonight."

Hughes looked at her thoughtfully. "Come on, no need for that. Why don't you spend the night at my place? I'm always putting you kids up in the spare bedroom."

Winry blinked at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes, of course," he told her earnestly. "My wife and daughter will be delighted to have you!" He turned and pointed at Lissa suddenly, startling her. "You know, Lissa, Elicia was just asking about you the other day—why don't you come for dinner too? It's been ages since you kids stopped by."

Lissa glanced sideways at Ed hesitantly, unwilling to leave him here by himself, especially with Alphonse acting so odd. "I…don't know if I'm allowed to leave," she admitted. "I'd love to, but…"

"Oh, I'll handle the doctors," he dismissed. "C'mon, Ed, let your little girlfriend out for the evening, huh? I know you're still too injured, but there's no reason she can't tag along. I'll make sure she gets back safely tonight, but it's gotta be stuffy, being stuck in this hospital for so long!"

Ed gave him a baffled look. "Uh, it's not like I'm keeping her here… You can go if you want, Liss."

For just a second, she wondered if he wanted her gone—but then she dismissed it. She knew him better than that. "Well…" She smiled at him. "I'll bring you back some apple pie, okay?"

That made him grin right back. "You'd better. This hospital food stinks."

Lissa crossed to him and ruffled his hair, making him flail at her and blush, but she just hugged him quickly, mindless of his flailing limbs. "Okay," she agreed, turning and giving Hughes a nod. "Let's go."

—

As it turned out, Hughes had an ulterior motive for inviting them over—it was his daughter Elicia's third birthday, and he was getting as many people involved as possible. Still, Lissa didn't mind it. The little girl was super sweet and she'd even babysat for her a couple times with the boys, when Elicia was barely past one and still in diapers. _That_ had been a fun day.

"Lissy, Lissy!" Elicia giggled, rushing over to where Lissa had stationed herself, at the corner of the table. "Look at this toy daddy got me!"

Lissa smiled and scooped Elicia into her arms, plopping her in her lap and checking it out. It was hard to say no to a face like that. "Oh, wow, it's a little train car, isn't it? Have you ever been on a train, Elicia?"

The girl shook her head, though her grin never faltered. "Nope! But daddy promised we would soon!"

"Well, I'm sure you'll get to, then." Lissa set Elicia on the floor and knelt down beside her. "Here, put the train on the floor, okay? I'll show you something really neat." She waited until Elicia had obediently placed it down—then Lissa tapped her forefinger on her nose, just for show. Blue light crackled through the air, sparkling like starlight, just like Al said, and raced to the train car. With just a little push of the ambient particles in the air, Lissa made the car roll forward, as though it had a motor inside it. Elicia giggled excitedly and chased it until it bumped into the far wall, then came racing back with the train in hand. "Again, again!"

Lissa just smiled and obliged, using that little burst of alchemy to make the train car move. It was easy, and it made Elicia smile and giggle like that, so she didn't mind if it seemed a bit like showing off.

"You've gotten really good at that," Hughes observed, grinning down at her. Elicia spotted him and raced over, train toy in hand, and flung herself around his leg like a little octopus.

"Well, it's hard not to, considering all the trouble Ed and Al get up to," she told him, rising to her feet. "I've had a lot of practice." Lissa patted Elicia's head and the girl raced away, distracted already, going to rejoin a group of her little friends across the room. "Thanks for getting me out of the hospital, by the way. It _was_ getting stuffy."

Hughes waved a hand at her. "Ah, I'm happy to help. I know firsthand how annoying it gets, trapped in one of those places for too long. It's a shame I couldn't drag Ed and Al along too, but I heard from the nurses Ed's pulled his stitches a few times too many."

Lissa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he's had trouble keeping still."

"Doesn't he always, though?" Hughes chuckled. "Well, you seem to be keeping them in line, at least for the most part."

She suddenly couldn't hold his gaze, her chest feeling too tight, shame burning her cheeks red. "I didn't this time," she admitted. "I don't know if you read the reports, but…"

"I did… And I wouldn't say that." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Lissa, you described it as your fault you two lost that fight—but I read Edward's report too, and he told a bit of a different story. In fact, in his report, he specifically said you were only injured because you defended him. It's strange, you know… I've gotten to read a handful of your reports, especially since that incident with Scar when Roy decided to start sharing, and honestly…there seems to be a bit of a theme, with you."

"A…theme?"

"Mmhmm. You take an awful lot of blame on your own shoulders, and so does Ed…but you both tend to blame yourselves for the same things. Not to mention you _both_ apparently have a habit of jumping in front of attacks for each other. But you in particular seem focused on what you perceive as _failures_ , times either one of the boys was in danger or got injured." Hughes gave her a piercing look, and she recalled exactly why he headed up the investigative division—he wasn't always the goofy family-obsessed version of himself. Sometimes he was much sharper than that. "From an outsider's perspective, it seems you've taken on the boys' safety as your duty, your job."

Lissa swallowed hard and shifted on her feet uncertainly. She wasn't used to this side of Hughes—mostly she saw him messing with Mustang or babbling about his family. This…was a bit different. "I guess I kind of have," she murmured. "I want to look after them, that's why I feel that way. They're all I have."

His gaze softened. "That's right… Your parents were killed during the Ishvalan Conflict, weren't they? You must have been really young then."

"I was seven. I don't have a lot of memories from before that attack, but…I still feel the hole." Lissa was embarrassed that her voice shook so badly, but it was difficult to frame her life this way, to admit the things she'd lost—and not just her parents but the _memories_ , the stolen pieces of her own childhood that she probably would never get back. "When I was eleven, Mustang took me down to Resembool with Riza, when they went to see what the story was with Ed and Al. I linked back up with them after they came to Central a year later…and since then, they've been my family. How can I _not_ take their safety on my head?"

"They're capable, though," he pointed out, not unkindly. "You have to know they're both extremely capable fighters, and strong enough to look after themselves, at least for the most part. But your reports suggest you're always worrying about them, constantly."

Memories flickered through her mind's eye—the boys completely unraveled at Shou Tucker's house, Ed's panicked tears when Barry the Chopper had him, that inhuman woman's spears pointed at his wounds…and now Al's clear internal struggle, the space between them… "Most of the time," she agreed softly. "But not always."

Hughes nodded slowly. "You've seen those two through a lot of rough things, situations I'm sure no one else witnessed, and even if they did, I bet they didn't see what _you_ saw. But you can't live your life panicking like that, Lissa."

"Lieutenant Colonel… I barely remember my parents… But I remember the feeling of loss. I still know that feeling. I was raised in an institution where the closest thing I had to a friend my own age was my sparring partner for the day. Alex Armstrong was the only person who ever actually treated me kindly, most of the time, until I met Edward and Alphonse." Lissa wrapped her arms around her middle and bowed her head. "They're my family now, they're the only family I have left… Wouldn't you do anything to protect your family? Wouldn't you put yourself on the line if it meant keeping them safe?"

He sighed, so very deeply—then he brought his arms around her and embraced her. For a moment, Lissa almost wanted to pull away, just stunned by it…but then she caved and wrapped her arms around him in return. "Of course I would," Hughes admitted wearily. "I understand exactly where you're coming from, I really do. I'm just saying…maybe you should let yourself be looked after for a change, that's all."

Lissa shut her eyes tight and nodded. She wasn't sure if she could do anything like that… It was difficult enough just leaving them in the hospital tonight. But she still remembered how…how wonderful it felt, when Ed had consoled her a few nights ago, when she'd had a moment of weakness and been taken care of… She couldn't say that was a bad thing. Not for a moment.

Once she'd composed herself, Lissa sent Hughes off to rejoin the party and instead tracked down Gracia in the kitchen, where she was sorting out cake and desserts. "Oh, Lissa!" Gracia smiled widely at her. "It's good to see you again, I'm so glad you came by."

Gracia Hughes was a sweet, kindhearted woman, who put up with her husband's shenanigans like a saint. Lissa had always liked her. "Me too," she admitted, a bit embarrassed of herself. "I'm sorry it's been so long… I've just been really busy, the boys and I have been all over Amestris in the past few years."

"Oh, don't you worry. You're always welcome here." Gracia inclined her head slightly. "I get the feeling you want to take a bit of apple pie back with you, hm?"

Lissa gaped at her. "How'd you know?"

"Because you'd _never_ let Edward and Alphonse miss out," Gracia laughed, waving her hand passively. "You care about those boys so much, it's sweet to see. Don't worry, I'll send you back with some before you go, I promise. But there's no reason to rush out, okay? You're welcome here as long as you'd like."

As always, she was just completely and utterly blown away by the giving nature of this family. Lissa hardly knew anything like it. Though…the Rockbells had been just about as open with her, she supposed. "Thank you," she murmured, unable to find anything else to say.

Winry stuck her head into the kitchen then. "Miss Gracia? I'm sorry to bother you… Mr. Hughes said he needed to ask you something."

Gracia just grinned and laughed. "Oh, he probably wants to take another photograph or something. He's always getting new ones printed. Between us, I think he just likes to do it to mess with Roy Mustang." She waved to them and left the kitchen, then, and Lissa heard Hughes call out something about a photo—so she'd been right.

"So, Winry…" Lissa leaned into the counter behind her and smirked at the other girl. "What was that screw you had in your pocket earlier? The one you put into Ed's automail?"

Winry groaned and slumped almost in half. "You saw that, huh?"

"I didn't rat you out, don't worry." She hid a laugh behind her hand, amused at Winry's distress. "Besides, it's not like it caused a real problem. He wasn't lying earlier."

"It still bothers me," Winry admitted, sighing. "I hate not doing my job well enough. With most of our customers, it just means they'll have a little stiffness working on some local farm and can immediately come in to get it checked, but with Ed… Ugh, I always get so _nervous_ that I'll mess something up and get him hurt, or worse."

"Don't stress so hard. As long as I've known Ed, he's been totally reliant on your automail and it's _never_ been a problem." Lissa rolled her eyes and added, "Even when the dummy doesn't take good care of it. This was just a one-off."

The blonde twisted her mouth up a bit, still looking disquieted. "Is it…as dangerous as it seems? Ed and Al never tell me anything, but I do wonder…"

Lissa frowned at her. "What do you mean? As dangerous as…what just happened? Then no. Usually it's not like this, honestly. This time was pretty bad." She touched her fingers to her chest absently, where her broken ribs still ached. "It might get worse, I don't know… But I'll be around to help as much as I can."

"Thank you." Winry smiled at her kindly. "For sticking by them." Her expression shifted then, eyebrows furrowing. "You know…it's been bothering me… I remembered you from the first time you came to Resembool, but I keep thinking I've seen you somewhere else, too."

"I…didn't think you remembered, actually," Lissa admitted. "Right after Ed got his state certification, when you came to Central to see him, and…that serial killer…" She gave an apologetic shrug of her shoulders, feeling bad for bringing the old memory up. "I didn't want to shove it in your face, see… But Al and I both went down there to find you and Ed. You probably saw me afterwards—I wanted to stay, but Mustang dragged me off since I wasn't supposed to be out in the city anyway. I could've gotten into a lot of trouble for it."

Winry's eyes were wide. "Oh my gosh… That's it, I know it is. I remember seeing you with Ed after the soldiers found us. He was more shaken up than I was, I think, but he had to fight that—that horrible man…" She shuddered faintly. "So much of that is just a blur to me, honestly. I think I've blocked most of it out. But I definitely saw you—I just didn't realize you were the same girl I saw in Resembool." Visibly shaking herself out of it, Winry flashed a smile and told her, "It's strange how we sort of peripherally knew of each other for so long but didn't meet until just a few weeks ago. I already feel like I know you. Is that weird?"

Lissa shook her head quickly, grinning despite herself. "No, I feel the same way, I mean… The boys talked about you a lot, besides. Even if they didn't bother calling, they still kept you and Pinako in mind, all the time."

"Hmph. Well, it'd be nicer if they called, but still…" The blonde smirked. "Anyway, I'm glad I finally got to meet you properly. I hardly ever make new friends, I'm always too busy at the shop, and everybody else who's involved in this kind of stuff is always older and…male. Ugh."

"Tell me about it. There's only ever been a handful of female state alchemists, so I'm gonna be the odd one out forever, basically." Lissa wrinkled her nose at the thought. "I don't mind Ed and Al, but I think every other state alchemist I've met has been a guy—I know _of_ a few female alchemists, but it's so rare and I have no idea why."

Winry rolled her eyes at that. "Probably some stupid testosterone issue. Men can't handle women being better than them at anything." They shared a knowing grin, both understanding _that_ particular fact a bit too well. Then Winry leaned into the doorframe and asked, "So you're going back to the hospital tonight, Lissa? You can't just stay here?"

"Yeah, funny story… I'm not officially discharged yet. Hughes just kind of spirited me away for the evening," Lissa confessed, a bit sheepish. "Besides, I need to check on the boys."

"I hope they figure out whatever's going on with them… It's weird for them to be fighting, they hardly ever so much as get angry with each other." Winry wrapped her arms around herself and sighed. "I don't like it. Used to it was always because Ed did something stupid, but I don't think that's what it is this time."

Lissa shook her head sadly. "I doubt it. He's just as confused as we are."

"Hey, Lissa…" Winry's expression turned sly out of nowhere. "What's going on between you and Ed, anyway?"

She recoiled in shock. "I—between us? What do you mean?"

"Oh, come _on_. It's pretty obvious. You guys are so close, and I saw you getting all touchy-feely with him before we left the hospital." The blonde grinned toothily. "Not to mention he turned red as a cherry when you hugged him."

"He was just being weird," she dismissed quickly. "We're always pretty comfortable with physical contact, it's just because we've spent so much time sparring. _Nothing_ is going on."

Winry rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know Ed Elric. He's not big on hugs. Not that you seem to have a problem. Besides, you should _see_ the way he stares at you when you're not looking, it's totally ridiculous. He's such a sap." She giggled, delighted at the insinuation, while Lissa just tried to keep her facial expression even. "I won't push, okay? Just…don't be surprised later on."

"There won't be a later on, not like that," Lissa muttered, tossing her head. "It's not like that, Win. Seriously."

"Sure, whatever you say."

"I mean it," she grumbled. "It's different when you've been kicking each other's ass for three years. He's my sparring partner. You get used to it."

Winry let the subject go as Gracia reentered the kitchen, talking about boxing up an apple pie for Lissa to take, but Lissa was still discomfited. Was she being that obvious? Winry had barely seen her and Ed together, and she thought… _No. I have to be more careful about this, otherwise somebody's gonna get hurt, and it'll probably be Ed._


	16. The Way Forward

I feel like this is dragging, but maybe that's my own impatience? BUT I swear, the next chapter totally makes up for it, because Rush Valley is a goldmine of exciting events! I'll get that one out ASAP since this is a shorter chapter too - I just wanted to get this out because I have to put on my big girl britches and go to the DMV today, so obviously the rest of my day will be terrible. Anyway! At present, the next chapter should be the longest yet, I'm guessing over 10k words. Which is insane, but I'm excited about it! So I hope you all enjoy me FINALLY wrapping up the aftermath of the Fifth Laboratory! As always, reviews and constructive criticism are welcomed and much appreciated. :3

* * *

Hughes delivered Lissa back to the hospital under the frustrated glares of a couple orderlies, who sent her straight up to the room with orders to stay put until she was officially discharged. Lissa was just glad they didn't search her bag and declare the pie she was toting to be _contraband_.

She stepped into the room, and though Ed sat up and greeted her, she only had eyes for the suit of armor sitting along the right side wall, on a stool that looked a bit too small for the task. "Al!" Lissa beamed and rushed over, flinging her arms around him and nearly knocking him right off the stool. He put an arm around her sort of reflexively, but she'd take what she could get. "I'm so glad you're here, saves me having to drag your butt in myself," she teased, stepping back and grinning at him.

Al rubbed the back of his head a bit uncomfortably. "Y-yeah, I came in once everyone else had gone. It was pretty crowded."

"Tell me about it," she snickered. "Hughes didn't tell us it was Elicia's third birthday, so the whole freaking family was there tonight for her birthday party. He was just recruiting more guests when he dragged me and Winry over. They totally adopted Winry, though, so she'll be fine. I love that family, I really do, but I'm still glad to be back with my boys tonight." Lissa pressed a kiss into Al's cheek before turning to face Ed, who was pouting just a bit, arms folded over his chest. "And Ed… I did manage to smuggle something up here for you."

His eyes shot wide. "It had better be pie, Liss."

"Tch, of course it is." Lissa smirked and deposited the box on the table between their beds. "I'm gonna change, but I swear, if you eat all that before I get out here I'll get Winry to make your automail useless again."

Ed snickered. "Fine, fine, I promise I won't eat all of it. But hurry up!"

Lissa gave a tug to his ponytail before ducking into the bathroom to change back into her hospital-provided clothes. She didn't much like them, they were kind of stiff and uncomfortable, but she'd already pushed her luck by leaving that night. It was better not to risk making the nurses any angrier at her.

Despite Ed's impatience, it didn't take her long, and soon enough they were both sitting cross-legged on his bed, happily eating away at the pie. "Man, I'd forgotten how good this was," Ed mumbled through a bite. Crumbs showered down onto his legs as he spoke.

"You're such a messy eater," Lissa told him dryly, rolling her eyes. " _Please_ tell me you're politer about food than your brother, Al, because otherwise I might have to ditch you both."

He actually laughed a bit, hesitantly, but genuinely. "I have _much_ better manners than brother."

"Excellent. All hope isn't lost, then."

Ed glowered down at his lap. "Traitors. Both of you."

"But it does look like you got more pie on yourself than in your mouth, brother," Alphonse observed wryly. "Did you actually eat any?"

Ed groaned and flopped onto his back, dangling the end of his slice of pie dangerously off the edge of the bed. "What is this, huh? You're ganging up on me, it's not fair!"

Lissa grinned across at Al. "It's all out of love, don't worry."

"Psh. Sure it is." He sat back up and stuffed the end of his slice into his mouth, chewing sourly. Lissa knew he wasn't _really_ upset, though, or she would've stopped. "You're lucky I'm still injured or I'd totally kick your ass."

"Whatever you say," she laughed.

With just the three of them in the room, they were able to act fairly normally—Lissa was _so_ happy to see Alphonse coming out of some of the weirdness he'd been showing, though there was still something lingering, something off… Still, he laughed and joked around with her and Ed enough that she felt secure enough to sleep, drifting off with Al's comforting eye glow ever-present at the edge of her vision.

She just hoped he'd be okay through the night.

Both Lissa and Edward slept through breakfast, only to be woken up at lunchtime instead, both a bit exhausted and baffled at waking up so late—usually on the road they were both up pretty early, out of sheer necessity.

An orderly brought lunch by and Lissa forced herself to sit up, yawning and stretching though the latter hurt her ribs just a bit. "Ugh. I'll be glad when my stupid ribs stop aching," she muttered, touching her hand there and scowling. "That spiky-haired bastard… I almost want to see them again, just so I can pay them back for this." She slid her little rolling tray over and settled on Ed's right, her usual spot, though it was better today because Al was still there. She'd almost expected him to leave, but apparently he'd at least moved past his whole focus on staying out of the room.

Ed suddenly went rigid beside her, his whole posture changing. She looked over, half-expecting a bug or something to be on his plate—only to see him glaring furiously at the innocuous little glass bottle of milk sitting on his tray. "So, we meet again, you little bastard," he hissed. "I'm _not_ gonna drink you."

"Not again," Lissa groaned, passing a hand over her face. "We go through this every time."

Al shifted uncomfortably and looked up at him. "Brother… You have a living body that needs nourishment. You have to drink it."

 _That's a weird thing to say. A living body. What's going on with him?_

But Ed wouldn't budge. "I don't have to if I don't want to," he sneered, grabbing up the little loaf of bread from his tray and biting into it fiercely.

"It's a lost cause, Al," Lissa told him with a sigh. "He's never going to drink milk."

Ed gave a firm nod, still scowling a bit, a little petulant about the whole thing. "It may not look like it, but I _have_ grown some. But everyone still calls me a pipsqueak." He sighed and muttered, though a bite of food, "I wish I was like you, Al. You've got such a big body now."

Lissa jerked her head around to stare at him. "Ed, hang on…"

The stool clattered to the floor as Alphonse shot to his feet and yelled, "It's not like I asked for this body, brother!"

Edward slumped over his tray, his expression falling. "S-sorry," he mumbled shamefully. "You're right. It's my fault that it happened… But I'll make it right, I'll get you back into your _real_ body, you'll see, Al-"

"That's what you always say, but you don't know that for sure!" Al shot back angrily.

Lissa felt cold all over, stunned by the outburst, completely lost. Was this what had been bothering him? She'd been wrong that the serial killer had upset him, then, but… Where had he gotten an idea like this? She had never, _ever_ seen him this way. Al was always optimistic about getting their bodies back, getting his own body back, but to doubt it like this… What had shaken him?

Ed looked up at him, his shoulders shaking faintly, though he tried to hold himself together. "L-look, I promise I'm gonna get you back. Believe me, Al, I'll do it."

"Believe you?" Alphonse demanded harshly. "How am I supposed to believe _anything_ when I'm stuck in this body?!" Ed flinched like he'd struck him. "What should I believe in? My _memories_? Memories are just scraps of information that can be made up as easily as anything else!"

Lissa swallowed hard. "Made up?" she whispered.

"Al, what…what are you talking about?" Ed breathed, staring at him in utter shock. His voice cracked as he spoke, and Lissa thought she could see him falling apart right in front of her.

But Al didn't let up. "Do you remember when you said there was something you were afraid to tell me? I think…" He clenched his fists tightly. "I think I might know what it was. Maybe you wanted to say that my soul and my memories are really artificial constructions _you_ created."

 _No… What is he talking about? Where did this come from?_

"You, and Winry, and Granny…" Al's body shuddered faintly. "You've been lying to me all along, haven't you?"

The door was open. When had the door opened? Lissa only now saw Winry and Hughes in the doorway, with Ross and Brosh behind them, all looking shocked—so they'd heard the argument. And Winry…she looked _horrified_ , so deeply hurt by the idea that she'd been part of some…some awful scheme to pretend Al was a real person…

 _But he_ _is_ _real. I can sense it, not as strongly as I can other people, but he still feels real… I know it… He isn't created… Ed wouldn't do something like that._

"What do you have to say for yourself, brother?!"

Lissa flinched back as Ed slammed his fists down on his tray, a sudden, blindly-furious reaction that shocked even Al into silence.

"Is that what you really think?" Ed hissed, trembling faintly, his head still bowed. "Have you believed that all this time?" his voice broke, and he paused for a moment, unmoving. Lissa could feel the tremors in the air from his breath hitching. She wished, so desperately, that Al would say something, _do_ something, take it back, anything… But he seemed frozen in place.

"So are you finished? Or was there more you wanted to say?" Ed whispered. A muscle in his jaw clenched, the skin going taut.

Silence. Not a single word.

Ed's mouth twisted into a broken, defeated smile. "Okay." He pushed his tray to the side, stood up, and walked from the room.

Lissa stumbled to her feet a second too late, but it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Winry tried to stop him, yelled for him, but he just ignored her and vanished down the hall. She didn't know what to do. In all her time with them, she'd never known the boys to fight like this. They had their spats, sure, brotherly arguments that never really got anywhere, but this… It made her heart ache just to _think_ about it.

"Al, you…" _CLANG!_ " _Moron_!"

Lissa whirled in shock as Winry slammed a wrench down on Al's head, which she'd pulled from…somewhere.

Winry stood over Al's collapsed body, seething, rage burning in her eyes. "Lissa, go after Edward. I'll handle things here with Alphonse."

"Are you sure?" Lissa edged, uncertain.

But the blonde just gave a firm nod. "Absolutely. I've got this under control."

Lissa touched her shoulder lightly as she left, bypassing Hughes, Ross, and Brosh as she headed off to find Ed. She knew how he was when he got upset—he liked open air and solitude, a place to think… So considering he wasn't technically allowed out of the hospital itself, that left only one option. The roof.

Thankfully, her guess was right. She found him up on the roof, standing at the edge looking down over Central, but his gaze was distant, like he wasn't actually _seeing_ any of it. Lissa came and leaned against the railing next to him, for once completely unsure how to handle things. She had seen and handled a lot, in her three years traveling with the boys…but this was different, something overwhelming and new and like nothing she'd dealt with before.

"I didn't know," Ed murmured. "I didn't know he felt that way. That he thought I… _created_ him. Shouldn't I have picked up on that before?"

Lissa frowned to herself. "I don't think he had that in his mind until the past few days… I can't imagine he's just been keeping it in, Al isn't _that_ good at hiding his emotions." She blinked hard as tears pricked at her eyes. "But…I don't know where he got the idea, either."

"He was right that I wanted to talk to him about something… But it wasn't _that_ …" He shut his eyes tightly. "I've always wondered…if he blames me for what happened to his body. It was my fault, I know it was, I pushed us to do that and…" He bowed his head and let out a quiet, sad sigh. "I guess I have my answer now."

"You thought he _blamed_ you? Ed, _no_ , he doesn't blame you, I know he doesn't." Lissa reached out and touched his back lightly, getting him to look at her. "Once he calms down, you can talk to him and you'll see that."

But Ed still looked so deeply sad. "He's gotta live every day looking at me, and how little I lost compared to him. I'm _fine_. But Al… He can't stay like this. He can't eat, he can't sleep, he doesn't feel when people touch him… I can't even imagine how awful it must be… I'm doing everything I can to help him, but it's…just not enough. And I know that now."

Lissa shook her head fiercely. "But— _no_ , before this, he always acted so differently about it, I know he doesn't blame you. He and I…" She averted her gaze. "We promised each other that we'd look after you, Ed. Years ago. Why would he have bothered with that if he resented you for what happened?"

"You…did what? Why didn't I know about this?" Ed furrowed his brow. "What kind of promise?"

"I mean…it wasn't like we said the words _I promise_ , but that's what it was anyway…" Lissa tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, buying herself time to figure out how to explain it. "We just…talked about how you're always looking out for everyone but yourself, and agreed that we'd make sure you never had to handle things on your own…that we'd look after you since you wouldn't do it yourself." She bit her lip as her cheeks went pink, hating the reaction. But she couldn't help it, talking about this with Ed was embarrassing, somehow. "Ever since then, we've held to it like a promise."

Edward looked stunned by the admission. "I…I had no idea. When was that, anyway? Do you guys just talk about me while I'm sleeping or something?"

Lissa rolled her eyes. "It was…oh man, I think it was your first real mission as a state alchemist. That little mining town, whatever it was called. It was so long ago now… But, I mean, of course you didn't know. We didn't _tell_ you. But Al and I agreed ever since then that we're going to look after you, together. So, I mean…" She reached out and grabbed his hands tightly, pulling him closer for a moment. "I _know_ he doesn't blame you, because he wouldn't have done anything like that if he did."

"I…I guess you could be right," he mumbled, though he didn't look convinced. "It's just…hard, hearing him talk like that… You saw the photos, right? Back at Granny's?"

She nodded quickly. She'd seen them—a couple corkboards full of family photos, where she'd gotten to see not just Ed and Winry as little kids, but Al too, tiny and cute and _real_. There was no faking that. "Of course I did. Besides, he's always _felt_ real to me… I never considered it at all."

 _Clank. Clank._

Lissa turned, caught between anxiety and hope, to see Al stepping onto the roof behind them. He seemed…different now, like he'd gotten his mind around the situation a bit better.

"Brother-"

"You know something, Al," Ed interrupted quickly, his tone a little _too_ casual, "we haven't had a good fight in a while. I'm starting to get flabby."

Al stared at him in confusion. "Huh?"

Wordlessly, Ed kicked out of his slippers—then he turned and rushed Alphonse, leaping at him with a well-aimed kick. Al gasped and leapt out of the way, dodging Ed's attacks as quickly as he could. "Hold on, brother! Stop!" he yelped. Ed ignored him, coming at him automail-arm-first, which forced Al to block with both arms. Lissa could only watch, stunned stupid as Edward continued going after his brother, not saying a word, never backing down for a moment.

"Your wounds haven't healed enough for this!" Al protested as he kept dodging, refusing to fight back properly.

Suddenly, Ed leapt backwards, flipping midair once, and grabbed a drying bedsheet from where it had been hanging nearby. Quicker than Al could react, Ed flung the sheet up and over him, and used the moment of blindness to kick off the ground and ram his automail foot right into Al's head, knocking him flat on his back.

"I beat you!" Ed declared, standing over his brother triumphantly. "The first time I ever won." Then he lay down opposite Al, his head a few inches away, mirroring his brother's position and panting a bit.

Al tugged the sheet off himself. "That wasn't a fair fight, brother," he muttered.

Ed turned his nose up. "A win is a win and you know it, Al," he denied firmly, sounding almost petulant. "We've always fought like this, ever since we were really little. Now that I think about it, we've fought over some really stupid things, haven't we?"

Lissa smiled to herself, slow and sure. So _that's_ what he was doing—he was just…showing Al that he's real.

"Definitely," Al agreed softly. "Like who would get the top and bottom bunks."

Ed grinned faintly. "Yeah."

"We fought over candy a lot too, huh?"

"And that toy, you remember?"

"I won that one," Al reminded him wryly. "And when we played in the Rain River, too."

"Oh, yeah! You shoved me into the water," Ed recalled, amused.

Lissa leaned into the railing and closed her eyes, just listening to them go back and forth, reminiscing about their childhood. A thread of…not quite jealousy, but something similar tugged at her heart. She had nothing like this. She barely recalled her childhood, the things she'd done or experienced… Most days it was okay, but sometimes it just…made her feel hollowed-out, like something really vital had been scooped out of her insides.

Her attention went right back to the boys when Ed murmured, "You're telling me that all those memories are lies?"

"Sorry," Al mumbled, ashamed.

"And your determination to be whole again, to get your body back no matter what… That's a lie too?" Edward pressed on, not ready to relent yet.

"No. It's not a lie."

Ed clenched his automail fist tightly. "That's right! We're in this together, all the way. Don't forget that. We're gonna keep pushing forward—we'll make ourselves stronger, faster, and better, until we get our bodies back." He lifted his automail arm upwards, stretching it towards the sky as he spoke, and Lissa found herself smiling at the silly power gesture.

Al giggled at him too, though he mirrored Ed anyway. "And…the milk?"

Ed flinched. "Milk?!" He grumbled to himself. "Ugh, fine, I'll drink…a _little_." Grinning ruefully, he moved his fist towards Al, offering. "Whatever it takes, brother."

In return, Al bumped his fist into Ed's, sealing the promise.

A few moments later, Ed attempted to sit up, clearly happy with the state of things—but he winced and pressed a hand to his stomach when he tried to move. "Oops," he mumbled.

"You dummy," Lissa told him, rolling her eyes. "You overdid it." She sighed and crossed to him, gingerly helping him to his feet with Al's assistance. "Honestly, if you ripped your stitches _again_ I'm gonna tie you to the freaking bed and _make_ you stay."

Ed smirked at her. "I'd like to see you try."

"Don't test me," Lissa warned, though she couldn't keep the stupid smile off her face as Al took Ed's weight from her, clearly feeling a bit kinder than she did. "At this rate they'll _never_ let you out of here, you know that, right?"

"Eh, you'll help me escape," he dismissed easily.

Al giggled at them. "She is right though," he pointed out wryly. "You need to take it easy."

Lissa trailed the two in as they bickered, playfully, heading towards where Winry and Hughes waited on them, just inside the building. She hadn't seen either of them come upstairs, but it was nice to know they'd been around anyway.

"Hey, guys, I hate to be the one to bring you down and all, but since you're feeling better we've gotta get to work," Hughes told them. "Major Armstrong is coming down to hear the story, too—I know you filed reports but we need all the details now, even the stuff you knew to omit, okay? We need to find the guys who attacked you."

Ed and Lissa exchanged pointed looks. "Right," Ed agreed. "We'll help however we can."

—

Back in their hotel room, Ed and Lissa sat down and drew up all the helpful things they could come up with—she carefully traced out the tattoo both their attackers had been sporting, a red ouroboros on the spiky-haired one's thigh and the woman's chest, which was probably significant somehow. He drew likenesses of both creatures, and between the two of them they were able to draw up the transmutation circle on the floor as well, to the best of their abilities. As they worked, they filled Al, Hughes, and Alex in on what transpired inside, and the details surrounding the event. Lissa couldn't hide her discomfort as Ed recounted his battle with Number Forty-Eight, the difficulty he'd had actually winning, something he'd only achieved by using the same trick Scar had perfected.

"I found Ed right after he finished that fight," she explained, crossing her legs underneath her as she spoke. "He wasn't in great shape, so I bandaged him up as much as I could, to hold him over… And we were about to leave, when…" But Lissa trailed off, unsure how to explain this properly.

Ed tapped the drawing he'd done of the woman in the black dress. "When _she_ came in. She had some weird ability, her fingers turned into spears, like nothing I'd ever seen before. She broke the blood seal on Forty-Eight's head to stop him from revealing any information." He irritably scratched an _X_ over her face. "I don't think it was alchemy, either. It didn't have any transmutic energy."

"The other one was sort of genderless," Lissa added on, pointing out the drawing of the shorter, spiky-haired one. "They stabbed through the blood seal in Forty-Eight's torso. And that's when…they called us _sacrifices_ , or at least Ed that time."

"I was going to try and fight them, but that's when my automail gave out. Liss got a hit in on them, but honestly…" He wrinkled his nose. "It didn't do much. It _should've_ been a serious attack, but they didn't even budge—if I took a hit like that, I'd probably be knocked unconscious, so that was…not exactly natural."

Al leaned in curiously. "Do you…think they were actually human?"

"No, I don't," Lissa told him honestly. "Not at all." She frowned at the drawing of the ouroboros tattoo she'd done, just absently, trying to gather her thoughts. "Still, I would've kept trying, but the woman threated Ed and I stopped, because I didn't want to risk it even though she said, well… She said she wouldn't kill him. That's when the other one broke my ribs. They didn't seem interested in killing us, honestly, I did believe that much from her because they could've killed us _easily_ way before that, but they didn't. They purposefully were keeping us alive." Her fingers touched her chest lightly, atop her bandages, remembering the moment. "We weren't exactly in fighting shape after that."

"Yeah, at that point they knocked me down with Liss and that was about it for me. The last thing I remember was this guy kicking me," Ed continued, pointing at the drawing of the spiky-haired creature."

"I heard the woman say something about blowing the place up, and the next thing I knew, I woke up here," Lissa finished, shrugging. "So we know they're the ones that blew it up, at least."

Alex frowned at them. "It's odd that they let you live. And what about this sacrifice business, and these other armored souls?" he mused.

"Not to mention the ouroboros tattoos and the transmutation circle… And Dr. Marcoh claims they were using the Philosopher's Stones in Ishval?" Hughes rubbed at his chin, staring down at the papers like he could find the answer there.

"Every clue we have to work with seems to lead to its own mystery," Alex observed.

Hughes nodded reluctantly. "Not much we can do about that, though. Any answers we might've found are under a ton of rubble back at the lab. And from what you guys said, I doubt these creatures are the type to half-ass the job. There's probably nothing left."

Lissa glanced sideways at Edward, feeling the sting of shame pretty acutely. She didn't like losing any more than he did. "No, I bet they didn't leave anything for us to find."

"Well…" Hughes picked up the drawing Lissa had done of the creatures' shared tattoo. "I'll run a search and see if I can find some priors on anyone with an ouroboros tattoo. It's pretty obvious, so if there's anything in our databases it shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Very good." Alex took the few papers Lissa and Ed had written up about Dr. Marcoh and his research and eyed them thoughtfully, apparently seeing some possibility in there, some line he could follow. "And while you do that, I'll continue looking into the research team that was working with Dr. Marcoh in Ishval."

Someone knocked at the door, and Lissa scarcely had time to swing her legs off the edge of the bed before it opened, and an all-too familiar man walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt," Führer King Bradley told them, smiling benignly.

Lissa felt her heart drop right to her feet as she shot up out of bed, standing beside Edward who apparently had the same thought she did. What the hell was _he_ doing here?! In their hospital room?!

Hughes and Alex snapped to attention immediately. "Führer Bradley! Your Excellency!" Alex spluttered, clearly just as shocked as the rest of them.

But the Führer raised a hand dismissively. "Calm down, gentlemen, this is just an informal visit."

"Yes, sir," Hughes agreed quickly. "But…may I please ask the occasion, sir?" That was Hughes, always wanting information no matter where it came from.

The Führer crossed to smile down at Ed and Lissa. "Why, these young alchemists right here. I heard you're injured." He lifted up the basket he'd been carrying and offered it to Ed. "I thought a nice melon might cheer you up."

 _A…melon?_

Ed stared at it like it might attack him, though he took it anyway. "Uh, I guess…" Then, catching himself, he blurted, "Agh! Thank you, sir!"

Continuing right along as though Ed hadn't slipped up, he added, "I understand you've been checking up on some of the senior staff. Is this true, Major Armstrong?" So _that_ was the heart of it… He wasn't _actually_ checking in on Ed and Lissa… He was seeking information, behind the veneer of a casual visit. How sly of him.

Alex's eyes widened. "Uh…yes, sir… But, uh… How did you know I was…"

"You should know that nothing gets past me, Major," Bradley told him evenly, though his voice carried the slightest undercurrent of a threat. Then he fixed his one-eyed stare on Ed and Lissa again. "And now you, my revered Fullmetal Alchemist, and our academy's most promising trainee…" _Most promising?_ "Tell me what you know about the Philosopher's Stone."

 _Oh, shit._

"And I hope for your sakes…" His gaze turned severe. "…that you don't know too much."

Lissa knew she was staring up at him much too defiantly, but she couldn't bring herself to stop. What was he _playing_ at? She could feel… _something_ in his demeanor, this strange sense of layering, but she was too anxious to concentrate enough to pick away at it, let alone open her senses entirely. To come in all benignly and then act like this… What the hell was going on?

Then, Bradley's expression shifted, and he began to _laugh_ uproariously, like he'd just told the funniest joke ever. "I'm only kidding!" he told them brightly. "Goodness, there's no reason for you kids to be so uptight." He patted Lissa on her shoulder, a friendly gesture, and she had to clench every muscle in her body to keep from flinching from his touch. "I know that there's been some suspicious activity within the military lately," the Führer continued, not a trace of threat this time, "and, I believe it's necessary for something to be done about it."

He turned and picked up some of the notes left on the nearby table, and Alex reached out as if to stop him, stammering, "Oh, that's just…uh…"

But the Führer was already flipping through the papers. "A list of the research team assigned to study the Philosopher's Stone," he acknowledged. "Every person listed in this document has been reported missing. They all vanished several days before the Fifth Laboratory collapsed."

Lissa looked at Ed sharply. Vanished? That was a bombshell for sure. They hadn't heard anything about these disappearances.

"It seems the enemy is always one step ahead of us," Bradley observed. "Even with my vast network of informants, I have no way to determine how far our ranks have been infiltrated. The most we know about them, is that they know a lot about us."

Hughes' eyes narrowed. "In that case…this is proving much more dangerous than we imagined."

Bradley placed the papers back down on the table and looked at them all in turn. "Major Armstrong… Lieutenant Colonel Hughes… Elric Brothers… Cadet Caito… You've all proven yourselves to be people of a trustworthy character. From this point forward, I'm giving you the direct order to _forget_ this matter and all that it concerns."

To forget about it? All of it? Lissa didn't know that she and the boys could do that.

"At this time, suspicion is our strongest line of offense, and our only form of defense is discretion. Do not trust anyone," Bradley warned, his tone firm and intense. "Keep this to yourselves at all costs. However…" He broke into a smile, a sort of fierce, sharp smile that set Lissa's teeth on edge. "When I deem the time is right to confront the enemy, I expect you to be prepared to join me in the effort."

Both Hughes and Alex saluted and agreed immediately. "Sir!"

Lissa kept her hand firmly at her side. She wasn't going to salute him, not after he'd delivered a speech like that one—and thankfully, Ed seemed to be thinking the same thing. He didn't so much as budge beside her.

A voice filtered through the door. "Where is he? Has Führer Bradley been through here?"

The Führer peered at the door a bit anxiously, almost. "Gotta go," he announced. "Damn bodyguard thinks he's my shadow." He strode across the room—and then, to the astonishment of everyone inside, he swung the windows open and set his foot against the sill. "Y'see, I snuck away to get a few minutes of privacy," he explained. Bradley hoisted himself right out the bottom-floor window with a cheerful, "Well, farewell for now!"

They stumbled to the window to watch him walk away, in total awe seeing him just…leave that way.

"Did that really just happen?" Lissa asked Ed lowly, meeting his wide-eyed gaze.

"I have no idea," he mumbled.

The door popped open again, and Winry stepped through, smiling brightly. "Hey, guys!" She skidded to a halt when she noticed their state, though. "What the… What's going on? Did I miss something?"

"Not really," Ed told her weakly. "Just a tornado passing by."

She gave him a bemused look. "Well…I don't think there's anything I can do about that… But I did buy the train tickets you asked me to get."

Ed grinned at her. "Thanks. Just in time."

Alex looked down at him with a faintly disapproving air to him. "You certainly are a man on the move, aren't you? Your wounds haven't even healed completely, nor have Lissa's. Is it quite safe to be leaving so soon?"

"We're getting stir crazy sitting here," Lissa explained, shrugging. "It's not like we'll heal any faster sitting around in the hospital."

"Besides, I'm starting to get real sick of the smell of antiseptics," Ed tacked on.

Hughes crossed to join them curiously. "And where are you guys heading off to this time?" He looked over Winry's shoulder as she displayed the three train tickets for him. "What's in Dublith?"

"Well…" Ed put on a determined face and reached over, patting Al on the arm a few times. "With the way things have gone lately, Al and I decided we should go back and visit our old teacher. Lissa hasn't gotten to train with her, either. Hopefully it'll help us start winning some fights."

Beside him, Alphonse began to tremble. "I think I'm too scared, brother," he whispered. Then, in almost a wail, "There's no way that she's not gonna kill us!"

Ed gripped his hands and met his terrified expression with one of his own. "Look, don't you chicken out on me now! I'm scared too, okay?!"

Winry rolled her eyes. "What exactly does this person teach, anyway?" she muttered.

"It appears you have a rather lengthy journey ahead of you," Alex pointed out, unbothered by the boys' sheer terror. He was accustomed to their…uniqueness, by now.

"Yeah, it's not exactly next door," Lissa agreed.

Winry gave her a curious look. "How far is Dublith? I'm not familiar with the city."

"Well, let's see…" Al shuffled the papers on the table around until he found the map of Amestris they'd been referencing earlier. Then he tapped the little white circle that indicated Dublith, quite a few stops south of Central. "There it is. All the way down here."

Seeing it on the map like that, Lissa was reminded of just how far out of the way she herself had been born. Trains didn't even _run_ to Rayerk—you had to take a horse and cart just to reach it.

Suddenly, Winry let out a shriek, her jaw dropping.

"Er…are you okay?" Lissa asked her, thoroughly confused.

Ed gave her a baffled look. "Wha—what is it?"

"That! Right there!" Winry pointed with a faintly trembling hand at a stop on the railroad. "Right before Dublith! It's the holy land of automail engineering—it's _Rush Valley_!"

The name meant…nothing to Lissa, nothing at all. But she could tell Winry was really excited about the place, at least, as she began begging Ed to take her along, waving her arms and giving him the most desperate puppy-dog eyes _ever_. It was amazing, watching her just lose her mind that way. Lissa had never seen her get like this about anything.

Ed scoffed at her. "Yeah, whatever. I don't have to take you anywhere."

Winry snapped to frustration in a heartbeat, looming over him angrily. "Well _somebody_ has to pay for my travel fare!"

"And why does that have to be me?!"

Lissa tapped Ed's shoulder to cut him off before he went on a real tirade. "You're being an ass," she told him, smirking. "Of course we'll take you down with us, Winry. I mean, you did just come all the way here from Resembool just to fix Ed's arm."

Ed gaped at her. "Traitor!"

"You say that a lot," Lissa observed wryly.

Al crossed to them and nodded his agreement. "C'mon, brother, what's the big deal? It's on our way, besides."

He grumbled to himself. "Ugh. Fine. Only if you and Liss want to."

Winry bounded out of the room, explaining she needed to call Pinako and tell her what was going on, giggling the whole way.

"Hmph. You guys always gang up on me," Ed pouted.

Al patted his head sympathetically. "Cheer up, brother. It won't be so bad, really. Why are you so against it, anyway?"

"You don't get it, do you? We're going to _Rush. Valley._ It's the damn automail center of Amestris." Ed waved his automail arm and leg around emphatically, hopping around on his flesh leg to keep balance. "I'm like, _half_ automail! They're gonna rip me apart and Winry's going to _let_ them do it! I'm _dead_ as soon as we get off the train!"

Lissa giggled and caught his arm, tugging him down so he'd stop jumping around like that. "Aw, like we'd let them do that to you. Don't worry, you can hide behind me, okay?"

Hughes grinned at them both. "Cute. So you didn't seduce your mechanic—you seduced your _trainee_. That's pretty pervy of you, Edward. I didn't think you had it in you. I'm proud." He clapped Ed on the back warmly, oblivious to the way both Ed _and_ Lissa turned varying shades of red in response.

"I didn't seduce _anybody_!" Ed spluttered, staring at him in shock.

Lissa groaned and pressed her face into her hands, completely embarrassed. "Hughes…why are you like this?" she mumbled through her palms.


	17. A Real Choice

I went to the DMV...and it was useless, and frustrating, and I'm angry at the world. SO. I finished and edited this chapter, because I had a lot I wanted to handle here and it made me feel better to get out of my head. This one is definitely emotional - it's Rush Valley, so we know that's a big deal - and in opposition to the past couple chapters, this moves forward in a big way, and I'm really excited for it. I'm also CRAZY excited for Dublith! So, pretty please review and follow and everything, it means so so much to hear what you think! (Especially because I'm still sore at the DMV.) Anyway, I'll shut up now. Enjoy!

* * *

The next evening, Lissa and Edward checked out of the hospital—against the doctor's recommendations—and boarded the train with Al and Winry, bound for Dublith…with a night's stay in Rush Valley, for Winry's sake. Alex, Ross, Brosh, Gracia, and Elicia all came to the station to see them off, and Lissa was so touched she almost _cried_. She hadn't realized just how many people really cared enough to do that, to actually put in that effort for them. Gracia even gave them a whole apple pie for the ride down.

"So why is it suddenly so important that you guys see your teacher?" Winry asked the boys curiously. She was sitting beside Al, which Lissa thought was purposeful—it put her at the best spot to read Lissa and Ed's faces. That couldn't be a coincidence.

Edward leaned his head into his palm and tipped into the window a bit. "There are a couple of reasons. For starters, I'm a little tired of getting my ass kicked."

Winry's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. Is this some kind of _combat_ teacher?" She folded her arms over her chest, seeming frustrated with the whole thing. "I don't get it. Why don't you just quit fighting?"

"Oh, that'd be nice," Ed snapped at her. "But sorry, it's not as simple as that, okay? Besides, this isn't only about our fighting. Our core needs a little work too, right Al?"

Al nodded. "Exactly. We feel like seeing our teacher will help us grow, and make us stronger on the inside."

"Yeah, and we're gonna need as much strength as we can get." Ed scowled and turned to face the window, and Lissa reached out to him, lightly resting her hand on his leg to settle him down a bit. He and Al were so anxious about this, about their trip back to see their old teacher, but that didn't mean he needed to be so aggressive.

Thankfully, Winry seemed to understand, only smiling a bit at him instead of being offended. "What's reason two?" she asked softly.

Ed stiffened ever so slightly. "To see what she can tell us about the Philosopher's Stone."

"And to ask her about the truth within the truth," Al added solemnly. "We haven't gotten any closer to figuring it out. There's a chance our teacher knows something about it."

"Let's hope she at least gives us the chance to ask her," Ed muttered, his expression contorting. Lissa was really beginning to regret all the times she'd begged to meet their teacher. "You should be more worried about explaining your appearance to her, Al. Considering… Considering…" He screwed his face up in some kind of preemptive agony and all but whined, "She's gonna kill us when she finds out what happened!"

Al nodded, trembling just a bit. "It would've been nice to at least have had a girlfriend before I die."

Winry grimaced at them. "Maybe you guys should get a new teacher…"

"That's what _I_ said," Lissa told her, smirking. "It never works. They just lament about dying when they see her while swearing up and down she's the best. I'm interested, but honestly, I'm starting to get a bit terrified for my life and I'm not even her student."

With a little discussion, they elected to save the apple pie for the next day, since the train was going overnight, and with the sun setting it was late enough to try and sleep, at least. Winry and Ed had the side of the train to lean on, so Lissa all but forced Ed to act as her pillow. He protested—with a bit of a blush around his cheeks, she noted—but in the end consented, and soon enough she'd drifted right off to sleep.

—

 _Lissa dreamt of fire._

 _She dreamt of a vast, endless fire consuming everything around her, creeping closer and closer… And two tiny hands, reaching out, trembling, covered in hastily-scrawled transmutation circles… The air crackled blue and the fire snuffed out, and a little girl sobbed and sobbed and sobbed._

 _Her body hurt, burned from the inside out, acid in her veins._

 _The scene shifted—and she saw a burst of red light, felt blood and a sick twisting, writhing sensation all over her skin… The little girl screamed again, this time begging, pleading for it to stop…_

 _Blood…not just the feeling but the smell, the metal-sharp tang of it… She looked down, trembling, and saw slashes along her arms, some healing, others weeping blood… Her arms stung and ached, and a voice whispered… 'Just one more, one more and it'll all be over…'_

 _Her vision lit up red and Lissa_ _screamed_ _._

—

Voices, overlapping voices above her. ' _Is she all right—can we help—did she fall—do we need to call a doctor—has this happened before-'_

"No, it's okay, it was just a nightmare. It happens sometimes."

 _I know that voice…_

"Her village was attacked during the Eastern Conflict. We can take care of her, thank you."

 _And that one… Who…what's going on?_

Hands gripped her underneath her arms, one warm and one cool, and Lissa felt someone haul her to her feet, though her legs still wouldn't support her.

"Brother—I can help you…"

"It's okay, I've got her, she just needs air."

Lissa clutched onto the fabric in front of her, overwhelmed by the sudden feeling of _amber_ , warm, familiar amber…sunlight flickering through water…the clear, sharpness of the night sky… What was that?

"C'mon, Liss, just work with me here," a voice mumbled, right beside her ear, breath rushing over her skin.

 _Ed… That…that's Ed…_

Lissa wrenched her eyes open and flung herself into his chest, heedless of her own injuries, and pressed her face in against his shoulder with a weak sob. There was still a hum of anxious chatter behind her, but she didn't _care_ , all that mattered was that she was safe now, she was safe with Edward, nothing could hurt her if she just stayed with him…

"That's it, there you go," Ed murmured, stroking his hand over her hair gently. "Come on, just walk with me, okay? Just a few steps."

Her body obeyed automatically, stumbling with him. She heard the click of a door opening, and felt the cool, wet rush of dawn air as he guided her out the back door of the train car and onto the little space between.

Lissa sank to her knees immediately, her forehead pressed into Ed's shins as she sucked in greedy, deep breaths, just trying not to cry. But she couldn't, she couldn't stop herself… Tears cascaded down her cheeks and she sobbed, her throat like sandpaper as the nightmare overwhelmed her. "I'm s-sorry," she whimpered. She'd never broken down like this, not in front of him, not in front of anyone. But the nightmare…the things she'd seen…. _felt_ …

"No, hey, don't apologize…" Ed knelt beside her and wrapped her in his arms, so tightly, pulling her upright until she was tucked in against him, held up only by his own strength. "You're safe now, okay? I promise, whatever it was, you're safe here, I won't let anything hurt you…"

She felt her breath hitch in her chest. What _had_ it been? Was it…memories? But she didn't remember anything like that from her childhood, and the gaps…

 _No…_ _No_ _… It can't be, that can't have been my past… My childhood… My parents wouldn't have done that, they couldn't possibly… That was too awful…_ Yet some deep, horrified part of her thought that maybe…maybe it _had_ been memories. It had felt so real, so painfully, sickeningly real that she could still see it… Still _feel_ the fire, the pain of all those lacerations on her arms…

Prying her eyes open for a moment, she pulled back and checked the skin on her arms, shoving the sleeves of her jacket up… But there was nothing there. No cuts, no blood, not even a scar.

 _It can't be real. But…_

"Liss?" Ed caught her chin and gently tipped her head up to look at him. "What's going on, what are you looking at?"

"I…just…had to be sure," she whispered. "I saw…something, in my nightmare, and it…"

He frowned worriedly at her. "What did you see?"

She swallowed, suddenly unable to look him in the eye. "These…lacerations, all over my arms… I think it was…when I was…little… But I don't understand, Ed, I don't know how that could've been real, none of it, I…" Lissa's voice caught, her words cut off by a sharp, painful inhale as panic clawed at her mind. Just _speaking_ the words made chills break out all along her skin, made her heart race so loud it echoed in her ears.

"Lissa, look at me," he murmured, his voice steady and sure. "Just look at me, okay?"

Though it took all her effort, every bit of stamina she had left, Lissa managed to lift her gaze and look at him, blue meeting gold.

Edward took her face between his hands, his touch soft and careful as he brushed his thumbs across her cheekbones. "None of that is real right now, okay? None of it. You're just here with me, Lissa. Nobody's going to hurt you. I _promise_. It can't hurt you now, whatever it was, _I'm_ here and I won't let any of it touch you."

She stared at him, her breathing slowly calming at the conviction in his tone. She _believed_ him. Lissa truly believed that she was safe with Ed, no matter what she'd seen, what still lurked in her mind… She trusted him.

Lissa settled into his touch, her body relaxing, the frantic pace of her heart slowing to a normal rate… She let her eyes flutter closed as she leaned into him, feeling truly safe for the first time since she'd woken up. How did he _do_ this, how did he bring her back down so effortlessly? She'd never known anything like it—never known anyone like _him_. Right down to the bottom of her heart, in that moment, Lissa believed she could survive anything with Edward Elric at her side.

Something soft and warm brushed against her forehead, gentle as a whisper, and Lissa's breath caught in her throat. He'd kissed her. Innocently, sweetly, so soft it was barely a kiss at all… But it made her whole body feel warm, made her heart feel like it could beat right out of her chest.

"Ed…"

He pulled her in close, tight against his chest…and kissed her again, on the crown of her head this time. "It's okay, Liss. I'm not going anywhere."

Lissa hid her face against the side of his neck, eyes shut, trying to keep her breathing under control. This close to him, feeling this vulnerable and shaken… Her self-control was almost completely shattered. But she _couldn't_ , she didn't even know _why_ she felt that way, why sweet gestures like that made her heart race and warmth spread down to her toes…

Or if she _did_ know, she wouldn't admit it to herself. Not for a moment.

"I'm sorry for all this," she mumbled, and leaned back just far enough to meet his eyes, ashamed of herself. "It's never been bad like this before…"

"It hasn't," Ed agreed quietly. "But that doesn't mean you need to apologize. You can't help it."

She shrugged, much as she could while still wrapped up in his arms, embarrassed nonetheless. "I can't help feeling at fault, either. Sometimes I wonder if…if I repressed my own memories, and that's caused all this…stupid stuff."

"People only repress memories if they're especially painful or difficult to handle," he pointed out, frowning at her. "That still wouldn't make it your fault."

Lissa bit her lip, unable to deny that no matter how much she wanted to. So rather than trying, she just sat back on her knees, a little steadier now that she'd calmed down, and tried to summon up a smile. It came out weak, but he returned it with a sweet, crooked one of his own, so it was worth it. "Still… I _am_ sorry I woke you guys up like that. I made such a fuss, I heard everyone freaking out… The other passengers probably thought something really bad happened."

He laughed and patted her shoulder. "Yeah, they were pretty confused at first. Al covered for you, though, he just mentioned the Eastern Conflict and everybody shut up fast. He's a quicker liar than me, that's for sure. That's how he used to stay out of trouble when we were kids."

"Well, I'll have to thank him later, then." Lissa twisted a curl around her finger, suddenly feeling…almost awkward, though she didn't know why.

It didn't seem to be affecting Ed, though. "Do you feel up to going back inside?" he asked curiously. "I'm not rushing you, I promise. But I bet some of Miss Gracia's apple pie would help you feel better."

Lissa giggled and nodded. "Yeah, I think it would."

He shifted like he was going to stand up—but then he paused, tilted his head to the side, and gave her the strangest look for a moment. She frowned at him in return, totally baffled on whatever might be going on in his head. What was he thinking? Did she have something on her face? Or was it just…Ed being weird? She was going to ask him, or maybe rub at her face to see if she had dirt or something there. But Lissa didn't get the chance.

Ed leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to the tip of her nose, so fast she didn't have time to even move, and then sat back with a wry grin.

"What—why did you—I…" Lissa spluttered, aware her mouth was hanging open like an idiot.

He grinned at her stuttering. "What? You look cute when you're confused."

 _What?!_

Ed's face paled, then went bright red as he shot to his feet, wringing his hands on the hem of his jacket in embarrassment. "Er—I meant… That's not…" He turned away from her, cleared his throat, and announced loudly, "C-come on, let's just go eat."

Lissa stared up at him in wonderment, touching a finger to her nose like she didn't quite believe it had just happened. Then, smiling, her cheeks dusted with pink, she stood up and took his hand in her own. "Sounds like a plan," she agreed softly, sliding her fingers between his. "Before you do anything else embarrassing, huh?"

"Shut up," he mumbled, his face still a vibrant shade of crimson.

She giggled and squeezed his hand. "You _did_ make me feel better, you know."

"Well, I'm glad." Ed quirked a grin and pulled her towards the door of the train car. "At least I can manage that without making a total ass out of myself."

"Mh, I don't know about that…"

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Liss."

She just winked at him in return. "You're very welcome."

—

Rush Valley was…hot. Lissa supposed she'd been more accustomed to it when she was little, since Rayerk was even further south, but so much time in Central had made her weak, she guessed. It was _stifling_ here. The only one who didn't seem affected was Winry, as she flitted from storefront to storefront, babbling about automail and fawning over everything she saw.

Al, naturally, was pretty chipper about the whole thing—but Ed shared Lissa's discomfort, at least. "Ugh, remind me again why we let ourselves get dragged out into this heat to look at a bunch of stupid automail?" he groaned. "We should've dropped Winry off at the station and headed straight on to Dublith." He had reason to complain—he was stuck carrying the suitcase, and had been forced to take off his red cloak to avoid completely cooking in the heat, so Lissa had at least taken that from him to try and help. She wore mostly black, just like Ed, so they were both…dying.

"We're being nice," Lissa reminded him, smirking. "First place we see that sells something _other_ than automail, we'll get some cold water or something. I swear."

He scowled at nothing in particular. "We'd better."

"Hey, kid! Come back here a sec!"

Lissa barely had time to turn her head before a group of engineers—or fawning adorers of automail—had surrounded them, one of whom grabbed Ed's automail and pushed his sleeve up to see it better.

 _Oh, crap._

"I've never seen an automail model quite like this before!" the grabby-hands one mused, twisting Ed's arm this way and that to see.

Another guy nodded thoughtfully. "It really is unusual. Everyone, take a look!"

It took all of _sixty damned seconds_ for the crowd to turn intense, forgetting there was a person attached to the automail—Lissa grabbed one man's arm, tried to force her way back in to Ed, but he disappeared in a mass of people much taller than him, and much less concerned for propriety than anyone she'd ever seen before. Gritting her teeth, she flung Ed's cloak on to free up her hands and shoved into the throng, trying to follow the sound of his voice.

When his jacket came flying up and out, Lissa figured she still had some time. But then his _trousers_ flew out and she'd absolutely had it.

"Hey!" Lissa screamed, a quick burst of alchemy funneling her voice to focus it over the crowd. "His engineer's right over there!" She pointed out Winry, who beamed and wiggled her fingers at them. The result was instantaneous. The crowd rushed over to her brimming with questions—and even cornered Al, thinking perhaps he might be wearing automail all over—which left Ed blessedly free of their clutches.

Lissa snagged up his clothes and crossed to him, where he stood left only in his boxers, glowering fiercely at the engineers who'd accosted him. "What the _fuck_ is wrong with these automail freaks?!" he snarled.

"They're just more concerned about the tech than the person," Lissa told him wearily. "Sorry. I tried to get to you sooner."

He stepped into one leg of his trousers and shook his head. "Nah, it's okay. I knew it was gonna happen, besides. I shouldn't have come out into freaking automail central if I wasn't prepared to get accosted."

Lissa focused for a moment, finally recovering from the shock of those engineers mobbing like that—only for her gaze to zero right in on Ed's exposed upper body. Her mouth went dry.

 _Stupid…stupid… You shouldn't have looked, idiot, what were you thinking? He hasn't even taken his shirt and jacket back yet, what did you expect?!_

"Liss? Why're you staring at me like that?" Ed asked her, raising an eyebrow.

She smiled at him to hide her embarrassment at being caught. "Just checking on your stitches, that's all."

Ed blinked once. Twice. Then he pointed at the bandage on his side. "Okay, but, my stitches are over here… And you were looking here." He moved his arm to point at his abdomen instead. "Are you feeling all right?" Suddenly, his expression changed, a wry grin spreading over his face. "Were you…checking me out or something?"

"No!" Lissa told him defiantly, scowling at him. "Like I haven't seen you shirtless before, dummy. You're imagining things."

He smirked at her but didn't say anything—though she swore she saw him wink at her.

 _Ugh. Dummy._

Ed moved on past it, thankfully. He finished getting his trousers on and buckled his belt, telling her as he adjusted it, "See, _this_ is why I steer clear of automail engineers." Suddenly, a look of confusion came over his face. He patted his hips, both sides, and then yanked out the lining of both his pockets. "Oh no," he breathed.

Lissa frowned at him. "What's going on?"

His distress drew Winry and Al over, both of whom managed to extricate themselves without much difficulty. "Something wrong, Ed?" Winry asked curiously.

Ed looked like he might either throw up or scream. "It's gone," he mumbled.

"What didja lose this time?" Al asked, sounding sort of amused by the whole thing. Ed _did_ lose track of things pretty frequently.

But Ed gave a nervous laugh and tugged at the lining of his pockets again. "Only the thing that proves I'm a state alchemist," he told them anxiously. "My silver watch… _gone_ …"

"You're kidding me," Lissa gasped, while Al and Winry panicked behind her. "It's _gone_?!"

"Sounds like you guys had a run in with Paninya," one of the engineers from before observed, drawing her attention. The others were still freaking out, but his words shocked them out of it and caught their attention.

"Paninya?" Ed asked urgently.

The mechanic beside the first one nodded sagely. "A pickpocket around here who likes to target tourists. You guys were easy to spot."

Ed raced up to them, already searching out the answer, the solution to the problem before anyone else had caught up with him. "Do you know how I can track down this Paninya girl?" he demanded. "She took something important! I have to get it back!"

But both men turned away. "Let's see, where is she again?" wondered the first one aloud, the one with an automail eye.

"I know what might jog my memory," the second one mused.

"If only I could have just one more look at that automail!"

Lissa reached for Ed's shoulder, knowing damn well what was going to come of this. "Ed, c'mon, you don't need to-"

 _Clap!_

She rolled her eyes as he transmuted his usual blade from his automail arm, and jabbed it threateningly in their direction, making his intentions very clear.

The reaction was instantaneous. Not only did the two men provide an answer—an automail shop run by some engineer named Dominic—but they gave very thorough, articulate directions while Ed loomed over them and Lissa focused on their words. She was aware he was too furious to be listening intently enough to understand the directions.

Dominic's shop wound up being all the way outside Rush Valley, deep into the mountains. Supposedly it was because he could find the best ore out there, but Lissa privately thought he was just avoiding people. It was certainly a hot, miserable trek out towards his shop.

Most of the way, Ed and Winry bickered ceaselessly. Ed blamed Winry for his watch getting stolen, she refused to take any of the blame… Lissa just resorted to walking in the semi-decent amount of shade cast by Al's larger form and tried to ignore them. She was getting a wicked headache from the constant sunlight beating down on her head, from the fact that she'd forgotten to take Ed's cloak off and now felt too weary to actually remove the stupid thing… It was protecting her from sunburn, at least, so it wasn't totally useless.

When they'd walked probably half of the way there, Al suddenly paused and cut across Ed and Winry's argument. "Um, hey, you guys?"

"What, Al?!" they both demanded.

He pointed off across the river-cut canyon to their left. "Could that be her?"

Lissa followed where he was pointing, squinting against the sunlight—and sure enough, there was the figure of a girl practically skipping across a wooden suspension bridge, not too far ahead. Out this far, it could only be Paninya, she figured.

The girl paused and turned, maybe hearing them, and something silver glinted in her hand.

Ed's reaction was instantaneous. He screamed something, unintelligible over the sound of him suddenly transmuting _the entire side of the mountain_. Lissa just watched, not bothering to react as he leapt into action and chased after her with a stunning display of needless alchemy. He was _really_ pissed, apparently.

"Well," she sighed, looking back at Al and Winry. "Do you wanna go act like normal people and wait for her to bump into us?"

Al nodded. "Sounds perfect."

They followed the sounds of destruction, the nearby dust clouds from Ed's overkill alchemical display, and Al led them through what looked like a shortcut that popped out right in front of the automail shop itself. Easy. From there, Al and Lissa sketched a transmutation circle into the dirt, him giving her directions for what it was supposed to do, and stood back to wait for the battle to reach them, since this was no doubt Paninya's end destination.

Sure enough, within a few minutes, Paninya leapt off a nearby ledge and landed right in the middle of the transmutation circle. She turned and froze in place, startled by Al's appearance, but he was ready.

"I've been waiting for you," he told her, and raised his hands. Lissa stood back as he transmuted an enormous cage around her, complete with a circle for a hook at the top, a proper birdcage.

Winry folded her arms and nodded appreciatively. "Nicely done, Al."

Ed followed her down and approached the cage, a smirk on his face, though Lissa had to note with all the energy he'd put forth he had _not_ managed to catch this girl himself. "Now, why don't you hand it over?" he demanded of her. "My watch-"

The girl spun on the spot and lashed out with her right knee, breaking clear through the bars of the cage. Her camouflaged pants ripped open along the knee and shin at the same moment—as a _blade_ popped out of her automail leg. "Come on," she laughed, brandishing the blade at them and grinning. "You can't be too surprised. You've seen the town, haven't you? Oh, and…" Paninya switched her weight over and lifted her left leg instead. It glowed brightly for a moment—Lissa cringed back and stepped in front of Winry just in case as she felt the disturbance in the air a split second before something _exploded_ from the girl's knee. The shot just barely went over Edward's head as he ducked down to the ground.

"My other leg's got a one-point-five inch cannon," she told him, smirking. "What do you think of that?" She hopped nimbly out the hole in the cage and took off running again.

"Come back!" Ed screamed, shoving to his feet.

The girl just laughed. "No way! Why don't we see if you can catch me?"

Lissa was going to intervene, a bit frustrated at this point with the whole charade—but Winry was faster. She lunged forward and caught Paninya's wrist, startling her into freezing in place, clearly baffled that she'd been stopped so easily. Though she wobbled a few times, tried to pull away, Winry didn't budge.

 _Impressive. Truly impressive._

"Well now, how do ya like that?" Winry laughed. "That wasn't so hard."

Ed and Al rushed over to rejoin them. "Nice work, Winry!" Ed yelled across. "And now don't let her get away!"

Winry grabbed the girl's hand in both of hers and held on tightly. "No way, I'm not letting her go." Her expression changed and she turned doe-eyed, and Lissa groaned to herself. "Not quite yet, anyway… Not until I've had a closer look at that automail!"

"Of course it's the automail," Lissa muttered, smirking as Ed skidded to a halt beside her.

The door to the shop opened, and a man and a woman stepped out—the woman very visibly _pregnant_. "Oh, hello there, Paninya," she greeted warmly. "Friends of yours?"

Paninya looked at her helplessly, Winry still gushing about her automail and holding onto her hand. "Not really…"

Despite that, somehow they ended up welcomed into the shop anyway. Lissa finally got the energy to take Ed's cloak off, and instead draped it over her lap, relieved to find the interior blissfully cool and well-ventilated. She settled onto a bench between Ed and Al, watching as Winry had her millionth freak-out of the day over Paninya's automail. It was funny to see, though, for the blonde to gush like this over her absolute passion. Lissa was glad they'd stopped here, if only to effectively make Winry's life by letting her come.

"Um…" Ed lifted his hand a bit tentatively. "Do you think we could have a talk about my watch?"

"It's no use, brother," Al told him sadly.

Lissa nodded her agreement. "Yeah, she's not gonna let up for a while. We're in for a wait."

Finally rising from the floor, Winry flounced over to the man they'd seen before, who stood leaning against the doorframe watching the whole thing curiously. "The work you've done is simply fantastic," she gushed, beaming up at him. "You're a wonderful engineer!"

He gave her a surprised look and raised his hands. "Oh, no, don't look at me, miss. I wasn't the one who made them."

"I am," a lower, gruffer voice announced.

Lissa was more than a bit startled to see a much larger, more intimidating man with a fierce scowl step into the room, arms folded over his chest. He stood there a moment, contemplating—then flicked his gaze to Ed very pointedly.

"Let's see it, then," he grumbled.

Ed shrank back uncertainly. "My automail, you mean?" he clarified.

The man grunted. "What else?"

"Er…okay…" Ed gave Lissa a baffled look, but obliged anyway, stripping down to his underwear for the _second_ time that day and settling onto a crate, while the man—Dominic, apparently, the engineer who owned the shop— sat down opposite him began to examine his arm. Unlike the engineers out on the street, he had a more clinical, professional sort of approach. It wasn't invasive in the slightest, thankfully.

"Hm," Dominic mused, tapping on the outer plate of Ed's automail with a little rounded tool. "This arm seems a bit heavy." He lifted it to demonstrate.

Winry winced and grimaced, embarrassed. "Y-yes, I guess it is," she mumbled.

The engineer sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. "You want to be more careful not to strain your outfitee. That could be the reason why his growth is stunted."

"Hey, shut up!" Ed snapped automatically, his usual reaction—but then the words set in and he gasped. "Wait, are you telling me that if my automail was lighter, I'd grow taller than this?" he demanded almost frantically.

Dominic looked thoughtful. "It is a possibility."

Lissa giggled and tugged on Ed's braid. "Or maybe you're just vertically challenged, you know. That's always possible too."

"Whose side are you on, anyway?" he grumbled, wrinkling his nose at her.

"Right! That settles it. Mr. Dominic!" Winry almost stomped back over to them, her face set firmly—then she bowed at the waist and implored him, "I beg you! Make me your apprentice!"

"Not a chance, girl."

The reply was instant, almost a practiced dismissal. Lissa couldn't say it was too shocking, considering his demeanor, though she didn't like him turning Winry down so fast. She knew this sort of thing mattered to her friend a lot.

Winry straightened and stared at him, a bit pale. "Maybe you'd like more time to consider the idea?" she tried.

Dominic turned away from her. "No need. I don't take on apprentices."

"I understand…but maybe…you could take time out of your busy schedule to teach her how to make automail to make me taller?" Ed asked of him, keeping his voice light and almost angelic in tone. It sounded ridiculous.

The engineer pointedly turned his head away. "Can it, ya little flea."

With that, Dominic rose and left the room, closing the door firmly behind him. Ed didn't even have words—he just sank off the crate and put his head in his hands, defeated by the sheer insult of being called a _flea_.

"Sorry about that," the man from earlier told them, genuinely apologetic. "My old man can be pretty stubborn." He gave them a sad, understanding sort of look. "I'm sorry you came all this way."

"That's okay," Al reassured him, though it wasn't, really. "We should be getting back anyway, to be honest."

Yet even as he spoke, thunder rumbled overhead—and in seconds, the sound of heavy, thick rain falling closed in around them. Desert-type storms. They always rolled in so _fast_ , it was really disconcerting.

"Or not," Lissa muttered. "I think we're stuck here for a bit, it's not safe to go through that canyon in the rain. I hate to ask, but…do you mind if we stay until the rain passes?"

The man waved his hand at her. "No, of course not! You're welcome to stay until the weather turns. It's way too dangerous to try heading back just yet." He tugged off his work gloves and rested a hand on his hip, smiling at them. "I'm Ridel LeCoulte, by the way. I don't think I officially introduced myself earlier. The woman you saw was my wife Satera."

The four went around with introductions, though Winry was particularly sullen. Ridel suggested they could move into the main part of the house, since he was tied up with work—and though Winry elected to stay behind among the automail and chat with Paninya, Al and Lissa left the shop behind, with Ed trailing behind them dejectedly. Lissa swore she heard him mumbling about Dominic calling him a flea. Apparently that had really profoundly affected him.

"We still have to get Ed's watch back," Lissa reminded Al as they walked, though she felt a bit uncomfortable just wandering through the house like this.

Al nodded sagely. "Yeah. Paninya never gave it back, and we don't want to leave without it. Though…" He glanced out one of the open windows as they passed it, where the rain still poured down relentlessly. "I doubt we're leaving anytime soon."

They stepped into another room—and Lissa paused beside Al, surprised to see Satera LeCoulte sitting in a chair, rubbing her belly gently, a soft smile on her face.

"E-excuse me," Al began tentatively, "but…are you having a baby?"

Satera looked up at them rather kindly. "Why yes, I am."

Al approached, his whole body alight with tension as he asked, "Do you think… Would it be all right if I touched your tummy?"

Lissa gazed up at him in surprise. She'd been too afraid to ask something like that herself.

"Go right ahead," Satera told him, smiling, completely at ease. It was nice to see somebody who wasn't put off by the armor immediately.

Al sank down in front of her and reached out, ever so gently, resting his hand on her abdomen. Ed followed him with a sort of wonder in his eyes and knelt beside his brother, though he didn't lift his hand immediately. But then, Satera raised her arm and held out her hand, palm up, beckoning him. Ed lifted his left hand, and she brought it in to sit alongside Al's, smiling the whole time.

"And what about you, young lady?" Satera asked, looking over Edward and beckoning to Lissa. "Come on, it's really all right, I promise."

"I—are you sure?" Lissa breathed, stunned.

Satera nodded—and Lissa crossed to her, kneeling down next to Ed and cautiously extending her hand, letting just her fingertips brush along the woman's stomach. The faintest _bump_ of movement made her gasp, and by some deep, distant instinct Lissa flattened her hand and closed her eyes, feeling for that little hint of movement.

"Oh, _wow_ ," she gasped when she felt it again, her chest so tight it felt like it could burst with a sudden rush of joy. "I think I just felt the baby…"

"Mmhmm, you definitely did," the mom-to-be confirmed happily.

Ed leaned back and beamed up at her with shining eyes. "It's like there's a miracle in your stomach."

Al followed suit, though neither went far. "Yeah," he murmured. "We were inside mom's tummy like this once upon a time too."

Slowly, almost reluctant to move away, Lissa sat back on her heels and dropped her hands into her lap. She'd never actually been around an expecting mom before… And it hit something, way down deep inside her, that made her want to laugh and cry all at the same time. It was… _amazing_ , that a little life could be created this way, could live inside someone like this… It felt almost magical to be close to, in a way that had nothing to do with her extra sense for the world. This…this was something infinitely more beautiful and special.

Satera winced and shifted uncomfortably on her seat, grimacing in clear pain, and Lissa thought her heart might stop.

"Are you okay?" Ed asked her worriedly, frowning.

But the woman nodded reluctantly. "Y-yes."

This time, though, Lissa's _other_ sense lit up like a bonfire. She tuned into it, allowing the buzzing sensation to grow into a full read—and then turned back to Satera with a sharp frown. "Ms. Satera… Are you sure you're all right?" she pressed. "Nothing's wrong?"

"I…well…" Satera winced again and shook her head. "I think… I think the baby's coming."

The boys staggered back in shock, stammering uselessly. But Lissa had already known, she'd sensed it and accepted it as fact much quicker just from feeling it so inherently. "Ed, go tell Mr. Dominic and Mr. Ridel. _Now_." When she turned to look at him, he was just standing there gaping at her like a damned fish. "I mean _right now_ , dummy, go!" she ordered.

Ed yelped and took off running.

"Ms. Satera, is this your bedroom here?" Lissa asked quickly, pointing to the next door down. When the woman nodded, she gestured at Al to come over. "Alphonse, help me get her into the bed, okay? She needs to lie down as soon as possible and I can't take her myself."

"R-right!" Al squeaked. He hurried back over and helped Satera up, supporting most of her weight on the way into the bedroom, while Lissa flipped back the covers and set the pillows up for her. By the time they had Satera into bed, Ridel showed up in total panic but ready to support his wife, so Lissa ushered Al back out of the room, since he'd sort of locked up at some point.

Ed, Winry, and Paninya came rushing up to them as they stepped out. "Mr. Dominic went to get the doctor," Winry explained anxiously, wringing her hands. "But…I hope he makes it in time, the weather's really bad…"

They all grouped helplessly at the door while Ridel sat up a chair at Satera's bedside, holding her hand and letting her grip down as tightly as she needed to. "Pop will be right back with a doctor," he reassured her, though his tone belied his panic no matter how hard he tried to keep it down. "Just hang on a little longer for me, okay?"

Satera grimaced and eyed him, one hand on her stomach. "There's no _hanging on_ here," she told him through gritted teeth. "It'll come whenever it's ready to."

Suddenly, she flinched as a strike of pain rushed through her. Lissa's whole body tensed, and her hand shot out, latching onto Ed's like a lifeline. He gripped her back just as tightly, his hand trembling faintly against hers.

Ridel leaned in worriedly. "What's the matter, hon?"

Satera mumbled something indistinct.

"Huh?"

She mumbled yet again, and Lissa clenched even tighter onto Ed's hand. What if…but…that would be _so_ bad… So so bad…

Wincing, visibly distressed at having to pry, Ridel asked her, "Uh… Sorry, one more time…? I couldn't hear that."

Finally giving up, Satera gripped the edge of the sheets and yelled, "I said _it's coming_!"

The room flew into a panic. Even Ridel lost his mind, looking around frantically, though nobody had a clue what to do. What _could_ be done?! The baby was _coming_ and there was no chance Dominic would bring a doctor back in time!

But at the center of it, Winry squared her shoulders and announced, "We're just going to have to do it."

Ed spun to face her, baffled. "Have to do what?"

"Winry…" Lissa stared at her in shock. "You don't mean…"

But the blonde didn't back down. "Deliver it. Yes."

Looking to her hopefully, like a ray of light, Ridel asked, "So…so you've seen a baby being delivered before, then?"

"No, I… I haven't," Winry admitted. "But we don't have any other options here. I need everyone's help. We are _going_ to do this!" She pulled out her mechanic's apron from her suitcase and snapped into action, divvying up tasks like a pro—Ed and Al were in charge of getting boiling water, Paninya was getting towels, and Ridel was sent to find rubbing alcohol and ice chips.

Lissa stood uncertainly beside Winry once the others had gone. "What do you need me to do?" she asked, feeling a bit lost.

"I know you have some…special ability to sense things, Lissa," Winry confessed softly. "The boys didn't tell me, I promise, they didn't betray your confidence… I just picked it up on my own. I need you to keep an eye on Ms. Satera and the baby—you'd be the first to know if anything went wrong, wouldn't you? And you've got a really quick reaction time, I know that, you go off on all those missions… With your abilities you can act faster than any of us if something bad happens."

She swallowed hard. She'd never realized Winry knew about that—it wasn't something she advertised, because of the fear of judgement, fear of people thinking she was strange… But Winry had known and hadn't thought badly of her for it. "I've never used my abilities that way," she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. "But I'll do my best."

While the others brought their assigned items by, and Ridel took his spot beside his wife again, Winry and Lissa stepped outside to give the couple a moment—and for Winry to gather her thoughts.

"Boiling water…disinfectant…towels… And what else was there? Remember it _now_ ," Winry muttered to herself, staring at the closed bedroom door like it would spit out the answers for her if she focused hard enough.

Ed, Al, and Paninya approached then, finished with their tasks. "Winry," Ed murmured, getting her attention.

"You can do this!" the three told her encouragingly.

Lissa nodded and squeezed her shoulder. "You've got this, Win. I know you do."

Winry looked surprised—then she set her jaw and gave a determined nod. "Okay. I'm ready." She turned and pushed the door open, went to step inside, and paused for just a moment. "Paninya. Give us a hand in here."

"Sure, you got it," the girl agreed without hesitation, hurrying in after Winry.

"Liss, hey." Ed caught her wrist just before she followed the two in. "I know you're worried…but you'll do great, I know it." He leaned up and kissed her cheek softly, squeezing her hand as he did it. "I believe in you, okay?"

She smiled at him, feeling infinitely stronger just from that one little gesture. "Thanks, Ed. You guys wait out here—we can handle the rest."

Lissa swallowed, and released Ed's hand even though it felt like her lifeline. Then she steeled herself and followed the other girls into the room, closing the door behind her and opening her senses wide. There was no space for secrets now, she reflected, as she crossed the room and stood at the top of the bed, resting one hand on Satera's shoulder and focusing all her energy through her palm, trying for the first time in her life to read a particular signature rather than everything within range.

 _I can do this… I have no choice. If Winry can handle her part, then I can handle mine._

She gritted her teeth and nodded once, exchanging a fierce, determined look with Winry. They were as ready as they could be. The rest would just have to fall into place.

—

The door creaked open as Paninya staggered out, overwhelmed, dropping to her knees outside the room. Lissa was the only one left standing, and though she was unsteady, she couldn't stop yet. She kept her eyes fixated in one spot as the boys rushed in, Ed dropping beside Winry first and asking what was going on. Winry only pointed at the bed.

"It…it's a baby!" Ed gasped.

Lissa smiled and carefully lifted her hand from the squalling newborn's head, nodding at Satera and Ridel. "He feels just fine to me," she told them softly. "His energy's strong, too, really strong. I don't sense anything wrong with him." She found the strength to look up as Ridel took his newborn son to clean him off, finally, only feeling safe to do it once she'd confirmed that. Lissa hoped she was reading it right… Her mind felt so scrambled after everything, the influx of wild emotions and pain and everything over the past few hours.

"Awesome!" Ed cheered across the room, his voice youthful and elated. It made her feel warm all over. "It's a real live baby!" He laughed in delight. "Awesome! Awesome, awesome, _awesome_!"

Winry looked up at him, both amused and exasperated. "Really? Awesome? That's all you can think of to describe this?" she teased lightly.

Ed looked a bit affronted, turning on her and jamming his hands on his hips. "How else should I describe it?" he questioned. "This is the birth of a new life. Alchemists have worked for _centuries_ and we're still not able to do that. A person creating another person…"

"You gotta be kidding me," Winry muttered, untying her apron and letting it pool in her lap. "Now you're lumping in alchemy with the miracle of birth?"

He crossed his arms at her. "An occupational hazard. It's just the way I think."

Privately, Lissa understood—there was something genuinely miraculous about birth for an alchemist, who could only work with what was already _there_ , with the materials present in any situation. The idea of cells replicating, of something being created from nothing… It was foreign and beautiful, for someone like that.

"Besides," Ed continued undaunted, "whatever you say, it really _is_ awesome. People are awesome."

Lissa surreptitiously leaned into the wall behind her as her legs trembled, ready to give out. Across the room, she saw Ed flash her a smile as he piggybacked Winry out of the room, since their poor friend was too weak to even get up for the moment. Though she felt the faintest brush of jealousy, Lissa was just…too happy and relieved to really give into the emotion. It was stupid, besides. She had no claim, nothing to be jealous over.

She sighed and forced herself to walk, intending to go find a restroom or something—but when she reached the door, standing ajar from when Ed and Winry left, Lissa heard voices and paused, her heart pounding. Eavesdropping was wrong…wasn't it? But…she was so _curious_ …

Surreptitiously as she could, she rested against the wall there and listened, guilty for it but unable to smother her interest.

"…I haven't shown that to anybody," Ed murmured lowly, his voice tight like he was upset or angry. "Not even Al or Lissa."

"But why not, Ed?" Winry asked sadly.

"It's private. An admonition to myself. I hate to admit how weak I am… That I had to give what happened that day substance, and then carry it around with me as a reminder."

 _Carry it around… Is this something about his pocket watch?_

For a few moments, they were silent. Lissa kept her breathing steady, kept her eyes fixed across the room, wondering if that was it.

"Winry, why are you doing that?" Ed muttered, almost derisively. "What are you crying for?"

Winry sniffled a bit, clearly struggling with her tears. "You two won't cry… Someone else should do it for you, don't you think?

"Don't be an idiot." Lissa heard the soft thumps of Ed's footfalls, and stilled her breathing even more, not wanting to be caught. She felt terrible for listening in…but she was so far in it now that she didn't know how to stop. "You should get back to Resembool," he told Winry, in a somewhat kinder tone. "You've been gone a long time. Granny must be lonesome without you."

"No… I'm not leaving." Through the tears, Winry's tone was firm with conviction.

"Why?"

"Seeing your resolve inspired me," she explained simply. "I wanna do more, Ed. I can't just commit halfway."

"Don't do anything," he counseled her. "There's no need to get more involved."

But Winry wasn't having that. "Yes there is. I want to hone my skills so I'll be able to make you the finest quality automail prosthetics. That way you can continue your journey knowing you're as strong as you can be." Her voice brightened then, sounding lighter than before. "I'm going to try again. I'll ask Mr. Dominic to make me his apprentice."

"Okay," Ed replied simply, though his tone wasn't negative. He'd accepted it. "Well then, good luck."

"And Ed…" Winry's manner softened again, just a bit. "You shouldn't keep this to yourself. Maybe you don't want to remind Al about it, and I suppose I can understand that… But you should talk to Lissa, you know? You don't need to worry about looking weak in front of her. I know she'd never judge you. And…I think it'd be good, to have someone looking out for you who knows what's inside your head."

"I'll…think about it," Ed sighed. "She's… She could go anywhere she wanted, Winry. I dunno if she's told you, but…" There was a _thud_ as he sat back down, heavily. "Next year, when Liss turns sixteen… She's gonna get to take her exam and become a state alchemist. She's good, they'll never turn her down."

"She mentioned it, yes. But…what's that got to do with anything?"

"State alchemists have a bit of freedom… And with her background, she could pick any assignment she wanted and get it. What Al and I are doing… It's dangerous and difficult, and after she passes her exam I'd be shocked if she stayed with us. Why would she?"

Winry scoffed at him. "You're kidding, right? Have you actually _talked_ to her about any of this, hm?"

"'Course not. I don't wanna pressure her. Liss grew up in Central, she's known by most of the higher-ups there… She can probably pick anything and get it, if she wanted. I'm not stupid enough to assume _this_ is where she'll stay—and I don't ever want her to feel forced to do something she doesn't want to, so I'm not _going_ to ask."

"You _are_ stupid," Winry shot back. "You're such a moron, Ed, you really are if you think she'd go anywhere but with your sorry butt. I mean, can't you tell she-"

Lissa jolted as Paninya skipped past her, sticking her head into the hall and telling Winry that Ridel wanted to see her, ending the conversation. She let out a slow breath, ashamed of herself. How rude, listening in like that to a private discussion… Her manners were totally shot.

Outside, she heard yelling as Ed accosted Paninya for his pocket watch, considering she still hadn't given it back—a venture that included threats, smacking her around with his automail, and copious amounts of yelling before he was successful. It was silly, really, since there was no way the girl would keep it after everything that had happened, but Ed could be _so_ possessive over his things sometimes.

Paninya and Winry stepped back in, talking together just a bit, and Lissa managed to smile at them past her guilt. It felt too awful to eavesdrop—she wasn't going to do that again anytime soon.

The door swung open again, just a bit, and Lissa almost shrieked as a hand rested on her shoulder. But it was just Ed, smiling and beckoning for her to step out with him. So she did, reluctantly, and shut the door behind her. "What's up?" she asked him curiously.

He gave her a knowing look. "What did you hear?"

"I…" Lissa swallowed. "What are you talking about, Ed? Hear what?"

He shook his head at her wearily, though he still didn't seem upset with her. "C'mon, Liss. I saw you through the doorway. It's okay, I'm not angry or anything. I just wanna know what all you heard so I know what's on your mind."

So he _did_ see her. She hadn't been subtle at all.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, bowing her head. "I shouldn't have, I'm really sorry… I just… I was worried, I didn't know what was going on…" Lissa wrung her hands together, remembering belatedly she wasn't wearing her gloves which meant her tattoos were on display. And they _had_ been the entire delivery. It was a miracle no one had said anything. "I'm not…sure what I heard, exactly… I think you were talking about your pocket watch, but I wasn't certain… And I heard…" Her voice broke, and she felt a sudden rush of not-quite-anger flood into her heart. "I heard what you said about me."

Ed winced a bit. "Oh. You heard most of it, then."

"I guess so." She folded her arms and stared at him, her breath catching every so often, while she tried to gather her thoughts. "What—what have I ever done to make you not trust me, huh? When have I done _anything_ but stand by you, and by Al? For years now. What the hell do I have to do to earn your trust?"

His jaw fell open. "I—Liss, no, it's not like that, of _course_ I trust you… That isn't what I meant-"

"Isn't it? Then what _did_ you mean? Because I don't understand what I did that would make you think I want to be _anywhere_ but with you!" Lissa shoved at him, half angry and half hurt, but falling somewhere much too close to _betrayal_ for her own comfort.

Ed jumped back, stunned by the push. "H-hey, cut it out," he complained, batting her hands away as she went for him again. Lissa didn't want to hurt him, not for a moment—she just wanted to knock some sense into him. "Stop it, Liss. I didn't mean that, I swear, maybe I didn't explain it right but I just don't want you to feel forced into something, okay? That's _all_ , I trust you, I swear I do, this has nothing to do with that."

"It has everything to do with that!" She shoved his shoulders again, glaring, suddenly lost in a wave of this…this _intensity_ that was taking over her whole being. "You don't trust me when I say I want to stay with you and Al, you don't trust me when I swear I'm not giving up on you, on this mission to get your bodies back… I don't get it! Why-" Lissa gripped down on his shoulders and leaned in, suddenly overwhelmed, beyond angry, beyond hurt, just desperate to know what she'd done and why, _why_ \- "-don't you _trust_ -"

"Enough!" Ed snapped, grabbing her wrists. Lissa gasped as he swung her around, full force, and pressed her into the wall behind her. She didn't even realize she'd pushed him so far across the room, forced him to backpedal, not until her back hit the wall and all the air was knocked straight out of her lungs. " _Stop_ , Lissa, just—stop it! Dammit, of _course_ I trust you, I trust you with my fucking life!" He grabbed the lapels of her jacket and half-shook her, his expression fierce as he got right into her face. "But I couldn't live with myself if I thought you were forced to come with us! If—if I made you feel _obligated_ to come along just because you already had been! You've had every single choice ripped away from you since your parents died, and I wanted to give you a choice, a _real_ choice for once!"

Lissa swallowed hard. "You…were just trying to…" She didn't think she'd ever hated herself as much as she did in that moment. "I—I'm so _sorry_ , Ed, I'm such an ass, I didn't realize… I never thought…"

"I'm just trying to look after you," he murmured, still clutching at her jacket, but without any venom or anger anymore… Just this softness to his gaze that made her heart ache. "Like you always do for me and Al, see… I wanted you to have a real say in your own life. It's all I could think to do."

She stared into his eyes, into that beautiful deep gold, and Lissa felt herself tilting, falling inexorably forward, lost to him entirely… Distantly, she knew he was falling into her as well, closing the distance, lips parted slightly, his breath much too quick… But Lissa couldn't stop, she didn't _want_ to, not a single part of her wanted to do anything but lose herself in this boy, who was willing to put himself out, set everything aside just to offer her a sense of control in her life… To look after her…

A door slammed open elsewhere in the house.

Lissa jumped back, nearly bashing her head on the wall, in the same moment that Ed jolted away with his face bright red and eyes wide with shock. They stood there dumbly, staring at each other with a sort of shared panic.

 _What was that? Did we just…almost…_

Dominic came bursting into the room, soaked to the bone, followed by an equally-soaked doctor. "What happened?" he demanded of them harshly. "How's Satera?"

"She…" Lissa cleared her throat, embarrassed by the unsteady wobble of her voice. She had to get control of herself. "Everyone's all right, Mr. Dominic. But… Ms. Satera already had her baby. We all helped, and he seems healthy… There was nothing to do once the baby started coming." She smiled and pointed at the bedroom door helpfully. "They're in there. You can go on in."

He eyed her a bit skeptically, but nodded anyway, following the doctor inside.

Lissa let out a weary breath and passed a hand over her hair, trying to feel like she had some modicum of control over herself when she definitely did _not_. "I—I'm sorry," she told Ed, giving him a rueful smile. "I'm kind of a dummy myself, I guess. It means the world to me that you'd do something like that, you know… It really does… But…" She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't want to go anywhere else. Not for a moment. Once I take my exams, I'm coming right back to you and Al."

Ed grinned at her faintly, still a bit red in the face. "You sure? I mean…you know how dangerous it is, and there's no guarantee we'll ever get anywhere, besides."

"I know that. But there's still nowhere else I wanna be, Ed. I swear." Lissa folded her arms and looked at him. "Can I ask… What's in your pocket watch that you're so worried for me to see? I won't make you tell me, I swear, if you say so I'll never ask again. But…you _can_ talk to me. I really hope you know that by now."

"I do know," he confirmed softly. "It's just…embarrassing, I suppose. I always think it was the height of weakness for me to do this, like I needed another reminder." Ed sighed and flipped the pocket watch open, holding it out for her to see.

Lissa frowned as she took it between her hands, though he still held the chain, and read the words engraved on the inside cover. _Don't forget .11_.

Year eleven… That would mean… "Your house," she realized, her voice soft. "This was the date you and Al burned down your old house, isn't it? So you…carved that in there to remind you that you can't turn back?"

He nodded once, his mouth set in a thin line.

"I don't think it's weakness," Lissa told him honestly, looking up from the watch and meeting his gaze. "It doesn't make you weak to want the reminder. Everybody needs a push sometimes, you know… And there's no saying you'll need it forever, either. But until then…" She gently closed the cover and held the watch between her hands a moment, using the leverage to keep him close. "There's no shame in having something to keep you on your path."

"Sometimes I wonder, though. Sometimes I think it means I'm not really strong enough for this," Ed admitted, shrugging.

Lissa released the watch and took his shoulders instead. "I _know_ you are. You're more than strong enough, Ed. Whether you believe it or not, I certainly see it, otherwise I wouldn't push you so hard."

He smiled crookedly at her. "Thanks, Liss. For—believing in me. And, y'know…everything else."

She leaned in and hugged him tightly, exercising what remained of her shattered self-control to keep it _just_ the hug and nothing else. "What else am I here for, huh?" she teased. "C'mon. We should probably go back in before they start wondering what we're doing out here."

"Yeah," he agreed, smiling softly as he reached out and took her hand. "Let's go."


	18. What Lies Within

(Skip to the ~ if you want to get to the chapter-pertinent notes!)

Went back and forth on this and finally decided I was gonna post this, whiny or not. Ah well. So, fun times, I had not one but TWO pretty sharp negative reviews last night and today - one of which got deleted, but it lives on in eternal glory in my email. (Coincidence? I don't think so, psh.) Either way, I'm not upset to receive negative feedback. It's part of being a writer. I'm bemused that it was worth leaving me a review to say they wouldn't keep reading. I have no issues with someone not liking this story, and one point they made (that my OC isn't changing the storyline much), is really very accurate. That's not why I wrote this. It's a "what if" kind of scenario, a character I couldn't get out of my head and so I put her down on digital paper. No one is required to read it if they don't like it.

They did make a comment about Lissa's abilities/mental capabilities not seeming "badass" or "smart" enough... And I do want to actually hit on that, which is why I'm acknowledging this at all. Regardless of her training, she's still 15. She's a kid. She received a lot of mixed COMBAT training, and some alchemical training, but she was supposed to be working on her alchemical abilities by training with Edward. Obviously most of that time she's been helping them try to find the Philosopher's Stone instead of outright training, too. I tried to create a balance with a character who has something to offer, without being overpowered for her age or obscuring the existing characters. She shouldn't be stronger than the Elrics. That's kind of the whole point. And as far as her alchemical abilities, as I wrote it - the ability to work with "intangible materials" is rare because it requires control over so many tiny, independently-moving particles. The ability to harness those at all is rare and it's difficult to control, regardless. There are serious limitations as to what she's willing to do, as well, because the darker side of her abilities would fall into things like - removing the air from someone's lungs, breaking bones with increased air pressure, etc - and her nature doesn't really fit with that. It's about a quarter of the way through the story at the moment, and you will see her abilities grow and change... But the fact is, having a unique alchemical ability doesn't necessitate that she'd be that much "stronger" than anyone else. I hate feeling like I'm whining and trying to justify this, but I did think maybe I hadn't been clear enough, or maybe some of my earlier chapters talked her up too much. The ABILITY she has is difficult and rare, with few actual resources on it. Unless she wants to be 100% lethal, as the military would use an ability like that, she has to learn and create a lot of it on her own.

Also...it'd be no fun to see a character so overpowered she just blasts through every difficult fight. Yeah? Because I think that'd be really boring. I mean, besides, the enemies Ed and Al face tend to kick really seasoned alchemists' asses too. (Scar with Armstrong, for example - and the homunculi kind of kick everyone's asses.) What do you guys think? I'm not going to take offense, and I don't mean this as a call-out - I just wanted to ensure I'd conveyed everything properly in the story. And I mean, there's 300k words left. Not everything has been addressed or answered yet.

~ ANYWAY. Yeesh. After getting those acidic little reviews I thought I'd bounce right ahead to Dublith - because I still love my story and I still love Lissa, and it just fueled my desire to put down more of her story. :D Whole lotta fluff, too, because apparently I'm a glutton for punishment and want to drag this out as looooong as possible. Dublith involves a little deviation from Brotherhood and into the manga, which you'll see in a couple chapters, but for now, enjoy my impromptu early update!

* * *

Leaving Rush Valley felt…strange, somehow, almost bittersweet. Though so little had really changed, Lissa felt like the whole world had shifted around her. Winry stayed behind, after Dominic got her an apprenticeship with a shop in town that he recommended highly—and even the boys were in decent spirits, heading down to Dublith.

Lissa glanced over at Ed, asleep beneath her legs with his head propped in his hand. She would've offered him the window seat, so he'd be more comfortable, but he'd passed out like that and neither she nor Al had the heart to wake him. It was kind of like old times, and yet not… The same way they always sat, with her legs draped across him in her usual manner, Ed sleeping in weird positions and way too frequently, Alphonse watching over them… But she still couldn't shake the feeling that something had changed in the world.

Or maybe it was just inside her that something had changed. That moment, in Dominic's shop… When she'd felt like her entire being was tumbling right into Edward… She hadn't been able to forget that for a second.

Ed jolted awake with a gasp, startling her and Al out of a companionable silence.

"Brother… We've almost reached the Dublith station," Al told him quietly, though Lissa knew he sensed something was wrong.

Rather than replying, Ed just slumped down in his seat, under the bend at Lissa's knees, and folded his arms over his chest.

"Were you having a dream?" Al pressed, his tone carefully even.

Ed averted his gaze. "Yeah… I was dreaming about _him_ ," he muttered, his tone bitter and tight with some kind of restrained frustration.

Lissa knew who that was without asking. _Him_ , in that sharp tone of voice, could only mean one person—Ed and Al's father. While Al didn't seem to harbor the same deep resentment, she knew very well that Ed effectively _hated_ the man. She didn't even know his name, let alone much about him besides the fact that he'd abandoned the boys and their mother when they were little. It still lingered around them, even so many years later.

"So, what else can you tell me about your teacher?" Lissa asked, searching for a distraction. "All I know at this point is that she's terrifying, and is probably gonna murder you for what happened… And I know she's an incredible alchemist. But that's it."

"Uh, let's see…" Al tapped his fingers on his leg in thought. "It's kinda hard to explain Teacher until you've met her, to be honest. She's kind of…unique."

She wrinkled her nose. "Why do I feel like _unique_ is code for _likely to murder me too_?"

"Because it is," Ed told her with a grimace. "Teacher isn't gonna like any of this—and she hates the military, too."

But Lissa brightened at that. "Does she? Good. So do I."

Al and Ed exchanged horrified sort of looks. "I have a bad feeling about this, brother," Al mumbled.

"Yeah, me too…"

Lissa rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

They exited the train at Dublith station, and the boys led Lissa through town easily, ducking through alleyways and side streets like they'd lived here forever. She got the feeling they had spent a lot of time doing this exact sort of thing when they trained here, as kids, running around and causing mischief or playing games…or, hell, maybe even training. It was possible.

Finally, they stopped outside an innocuous-looking butcher shop, which was, well…probably one of the last things Lissa had expected.

"Well, Al… We're finally here," Ed announced, his voice a bit too high-pitched.

Al nodded solemnly. "Yeah."

Ed sighed wearily and hung his head. "It'd be nice if Teacher wasn't home," he muttered dejectedly.

"Uh-huh," Al agreed shakily.

Lissa stared at them, torn between amusement and blind terror. "C'mon, it can't be that bad, can it?" she asked.

But then, footsteps thundered from inside the butcher shop, and Lissa took a step back in alarm. Maybe it _could_ be that bad. She was filled with a sudden tidal wave of regret as an _enormous_ man stepped out of the shop, as big as Alex—which meant more than three times her size and able to crush her at will. And he was holding a wicked-sharp knife too, still sporting a little blood on the blade.

 _I'm gonna die, aren't I?_

"Uh… Hello, Sig," Ed greeted weakly.

Al tapped his forefingers together anxiously. "Long time no see!" he chirped.

This giant man—Sig, apparently—raised his free hand like he'd smack Ed to the ground… But he just placed his hand on his head and patted him, instead of destroying him. "Good to see you," he rumbled, smiling. "You've grown up a little, huh?"

Maybe feeling a bit more comfortable now that they hadn't been instantly murdered, Al lifted his hand and stepped forward. "Y-you probably don't recognize me, but it's Alphonse." He bowed his head. "Sorry we've been away so long."

Sig didn't rebuke him—he just switched brothers and began patting Al's head fondly. "Looks like you've grown up more than a little."

Then, his gaze alighted on Lissa and she tensed, almost ready to be shouted away from the shop. "Oh, and who's this? Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, you two?"

Ed grabbed Lissa's arm and tugged her into his side. "R-right. Sig, this is Lissa Caito, she's, er—my trainee. Lissa, this is Sig Curtis. He's our Teacher's husband." He grinned anxiously, trying to hide the fear behind his eyes, but she knew Sig _had_ to know he was terrified.

"It's nice to meet you," Lissa told him, smiling and sticking out her hand. Propriety never hurt, right?

Sig returned the smile and shook her hand. She almost shrieked to see her entire hand obscured inside his, but just barely managed to keep it in. "It's nice to meet you too, Lissa. You been keeping these boys in line?"

She couldn't stifle the giggle. "Of course."

With that heart-stopping moment over, Sig led the three around the back to a quaint little white-walled house façade that mirrored the butcher's shop at the front, where they waited around the back door while he spoke through the window to someone. It _had_ to be the boys' teacher, this mysterious alchemist Lissa had only vaguely heard of. But if she was married to someone like Sig…

"Lying down?" Al murmured, concerned. "That's not a good sign."

Ed looked up at him worriedly. "I guess she hasn't gotten any better since last time."

Lissa frowned. "Your teacher's sick?"

"Yeah, she's sick all the time—but usually she can be out of bed more, this seems kinda bad," Ed admitted, seeming genuinely concerned about her.

Suddenly, the door banged open like a gunshot, and Lissa jumped back in fear.

Ed wasn't so lucky—so he was directly in the line of fire when a _foot_ came through the open doorway, and a firm, powerful kick was planted right into his face. He went flying, end over end, to land on the far side of the road in a heap.

Lissa stared, openmouthed, as the single most unassuming person she had _ever_ seen walked from within the shop. She was a woman of fairly average height and build, with dark hair strung into a mess of smaller braids and tied up in a loose ponytail, dressed in casual street clothes and house slippers. Nothing like what she'd imagined.

Then the woman opened her mouth, her glare fixated on Ed, and Lissa felt genuine fear slide down her back, icy cold. "Hello, my stupid pupil," she snapped. "I hear you've become one of the military's dogs!"

The door creaked, and the woman turned, her rage never faltering as she turned her attention to Alphonse.

"Uh—Teacher—you see—it's because, um…" Al spluttered helplessly.

But then, the woman's face softened, and she gave him a confused look. "Al?" She smiled at him widely, almost… _motherly_ , somehow. "Look at you, you've gotten so big!"

Al sighed in relief, slumping from his tense stance. He crossed to her and held out his hand like he was going to shake hers. "Teacher, it's really good to see y-" His greeting turned into a yell of surprise as she grabbed his arm, shifted her weight, and _flung_ his entire armor body up and over her head to slam him into the grass behind her.

"Your skills are rusty," she told him bluntly.

Lissa flinched away as the woman stared her down next. "And who might you be?" she asked, not entirely kindly.

Shaking himself off, Ed darted back into the yard and told her quickly, "She's our friend, Teacher. Lissa Caito, she's—she's my trainee."

 _He's telling his teacher…that I'm his trainee…_ Lissa paled. That wasn't going to end well.

Sure enough, she rounded on Ed with almost a sneer on her face. "Oh? _Your_ trainee, is that right? I see. Well." She stuck her hand out towards Lissa expectantly. "I'm quite interested to meet you then, young lady."

Lissa approached her tentatively. "You're gonna flip me too, aren't you?" she mumbled.

The woman grinned. "No, nothing like that."

With no other options, Lissa tensed herself and extended her hand, conscious of her gloves for a moment and wondering if maybe their teacher was going to rip them right off her hands. It wouldn't surprise her. _Nothing_ would surprise her at this point.

She felt the disturbance shifting the particles in the air as the woman brought her opposite hand up, rolling her weight back for some form of attack.

Lissa twisted her hands and leapt back with a yelp, the air crackling blue around her as she decreased the resistance and slipped between the particles, just narrowly avoiding the flat-palmed strike headed right for her face.

"Hm. You're quite fast, aren't you," the woman observed. "However…"

It happened so quickly—Lissa sensed the disturbance again and tried to shift in time, transmutic energy flaring to life around her, but she just wasn't quick enough. Her legs were knocked right out from under her and she went down _hard_ , into the dirt, landing flat on her back and staring up at the sky for a moment, stunned.

"Not fast enough, it seems."

Ed appeared in Lissa's vision, grimacing and holding out his hand. She grabbed on and accepted his help up, though she didn't feel much better with her feet under her—it was difficult to get the drop on her, really, especially when she _knew_ an attack was coming. This woman…was terrifying.

No wonder the boys had been so scared.

"Still, I suppose it wasn't a horrible effort," she continued, eyeing Lissa thoughtfully. "Lissa, was it? I'm Izumi Curtis. I trained these two idiots."

Lissa waved at her tentatively. "It's nice to meet you."

Al sat up and rubbed his head as though it hurt. "You've got lots of energy for someone who's not feeling well," he mumbled.

"Not feeling well?!" Izumi demanded harshly, her voice rising to a furious yell. "What are you talking about?! I'm perfectly-" Her tirade was cut off as she coughed a deep, body-shaking thing—and when she coughed again, harder this time, she coughed up _blood_.

Lissa recoiled in shock, pressing a hand to her mouth. Coughing up blood? She was _that_ sick? How the hell had she just kicked all three of their asses, then?!

Sig stepped up behind her and put an arm around her shoulders, looking down at her in such concern and adoration. It was almost out of place on him, somehow. "You shouldn't exert yourself," he cautioned gently.

Izumi turned to him immediately, smiling, her entire demeanor changing in a heartbeat. "How sweet of you to worry, dear!" She leaned into his arms happily. "Thank you!"

"You okay?" Ed murmured, looking sideways at Lissa, his expression troubled.

She managed a determined sort of smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just caught me off guard, that's all." Lissa wanted to say more—but Izumi cleared her throat, and all three looked up sheepishly to where she stood in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Well? Are you coming?" she asked impatiently, tapping her foot.

The boys moved first, following Izumi and Sig inside, and Lissa trailed behind them sort of drowning in trepidation. She was still a bit afraid of being murdered, honestly… Or maybe jumped again. Lissa didn't think she could lower her guard for a second here, not if Izumi was looking for openings to knock her on her ass again.

Once they were settled in at the table just off the kitchen, provided with tea like proper guests, and it was clear Izumi wasn't attacking anyone for the moment, Lissa allowed herself to relax, just a bit. She hadn't been treated badly, besides the one startling attack—but that was how Izumi had greeted the boys, after all… So maybe it was just her way of handling things. Her way of testing her own pupil's trainee as well, which would make sense, if she thought about it. Izumi would want to see just how well Ed had been doing as a teacher.

Lissa surreptitiously glanced at him as she took a sip of her tea. Ed seemed calmer now, and so did Al, as though they felt they were out of danger after the initial burst of wrath.

 _I guess that means I can trust she won't kill me,_ Lissa surmised. She'd been seated _between_ Ed and Izumi, after all, so she had to be worried about facing sudden attacks from her non-dominant left side.

"Well, go on," Izumi sighed, giving the boys an exasperated look. "I can tell by the sheer level of anxiety you're emitting that this isn't just a social call."

"No, it isn't," Al told her quietly.

Ed looked up from his lap, his shoulders set with resolve, and apparently decided to just go for it rather than waiting around and making it worse. "Teacher, we wanted to ask you something. Do you happen to know anything about the Philosopher's Stone?"

Izumi regarded him curiously, but a bit passively at the same time. "The Philosopher's Stone? I don't know much about it, no. It holds no interest for me."

"I see." Ed carefully kept his expression neutral, though the tone of his voice dropped. "Okay."

Lissa bit back the worried frown that wanted to crease her face. She knew the boys wanted to come here and train, certainly, but they'd really been hoping to get a new lead from her. It kind of seemed like they believed their teacher knew everything, or at least had a better grasp on the world than most anyone else.

"Hm… There was that one alchemist," Sig noted, looking up at Izumi thoughtfully. "I thought that one man from Central knew a good amount about the stone."

 _Central? That'd be really lucky._

Lissa exchanged hopeful, eager looks with the boys. This could be a _huge_ lead, to find somebody who actually knew a lot about the Philosopher's Stone— _and_ who lived in Central, their own backyard!

"So who was this guy?" Ed asked almost impatiently, leaning forward over the table.

Izumi brought her hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Hm, let me see… Now, what was his name again? It was something strange, I believe…" She snapped her fingers and nodded as the memory solidified. "Oh, that's right. Hohenheim."

Al reared back, gasping in shock—but Ed's reaction was much sharper. His face contorted in anguish and rage, his hands clenching into fists in his lap, shoulders trembling faintly in absolute fury.

"What is it?" Izumi asked, raising an eyebrow when she noticed his reaction.

Lissa didn't know the name, but she knew it had to be bad. She so rarely saw him rush into anger so quickly, not like this, not such a soul-deep kind of anger. "Ed?" she asked softly, reaching out and touching his shoulder lightly. "What's going on?"

His head bowed further, breath coming much too rapidly. She could feel it in the air. "Then he's alive," Ed hissed.

Izumi narrowed her eyes. "Someone you know?" she pressed.

When Ed couldn't bring himself to speak, something just… _clicked_ inside Lissa's head. The name… The profound effect it had on both boys, bringing out Ed's wrath at the same time as knocking Al's legs out from under him… The fact that just hearing this man be mentioned was some kind of confirmation that he was alive, as though they hadn't been certain before…

Was this Hohenheim…Ed and Al's _father_?

After a moment, Al confirmed it in a soft, timid voice. "He's our father."

The admission startled even Izumi, who sat back in surprise. "The one who ran out on you when you were little?" she clarified, her gaze softening then, going almost…maternal.

Lissa tightened her hand on Ed's shoulder, fingers digging into the worn fabric of his jacket. It had been startling enough to hear her own parents mentioned, back at Dr. Marcoh's, but she scarcely remembered them… This must have been…almost shattering to hear, to find out that the parent who had abandoned them, the one Edward loathed so much for leaving them behind, was supposed to know about the damned Philosopher's Stone.

"Yeah, that's the one," Ed snarled, trembling underneath Lissa's fingers. "It's all because of that bastard that our mother's dead… And…if it wasn't for him…" But he trailed off, his teeth clenched tight, jaw spasming, too overcome to continue.

Al shifted uncomfortably, clearly unsure how to handle his brother's reaction. "Um…" He looked at Izumi hopefully. "Did our dad say anything about the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Something about a lifelong dream coming true… He seemed very happy when he said it." Izumi paused, and scowled across at Edward, who still hadn't looked up. He wasn't trembling anymore, Lissa noted, but he still just seemed…upset. Apparently Izumi noticed that too. She got up and stepped between him and Lissa, forcing her hand off his back, and whacked him right on the back of his head.

He yelped and sat up, staring at her in confusion and holding one hand to his head, wincing.

"Now we're going to eat!" Izumi told him fiercely.

Ed gave her a petulant look as she headed for the kitchen. "Okay!" he snapped, almost a rebuke in itself. But thankfully Izumi didn't seem bothered by that, or if she was, she decided to let it slide.

Lissa reached over and touched his leg, just lightly, right above his automail. She didn't ask aloud if Ed was okay, just gave him the most concerned look she dared with Sig right there with them, hoping he'd understand. Thankfully he did. He quirked a faint smile and rested his hand atop hers, squeezing down just a bit. So he was all right…at least for the time being.

Dinner was…nice, actually, if a touch awkward at times. Ed and Al had to cover for Al not eating, only managed by Ed's timely distraction by talking about Satera's baby, and the delivery they'd been involved with in Rush Valley. That was enough to throw anybody off the trail.

Afterwards, Izumi rather kindly took Lissa upstairs to show her the bathroom on that floor and give her a couple towels. "I don't let the boys use this one," she explained, folding her arms, "because Edward always makes a terrible mess of the place. They're relegated downstairs. But I'm willing to give you a chance to prove yourself, since you haven't stayed here before." She leaned into the doorframe and gave Lissa a sort of…questioning look. "I'm sorry we only have one spare bedroom… Though Edward and Alphonse assured me you're used to sharing. Is that true?"

Lissa nodded quickly. "Yeah, we usually don't bother to pay for an extra hotel room on the road," she admitted. "It's been three years now, so it's not really strange at this point."

"I see." She inclined her head towards the bathroom door. "Well, feel free to use whatever you'd like, then, as long as you don't disturb us. Sig and I are quite early risers, tending to the shop and everything else in our lives."

"I'll keep it down, Ms. Izumi," Lissa assured her, feeling a bit anxious about the whole thing.

To her surprise, though, the woman smiled at her. "I hope so. You should get some rest when you can, Lissa. You might be Ed's trainee, but he's my pupil—I'll be treating you no differently than the boys, I assure you."

Though she was…well… _terrified_ , Lissa summoned up a grin anyway. "That's definitely fair."

"Hm." Izumi gave her a contemplative look, before nodding and heading off down the hallway. "Goodnight, Lissa. Sleep well."

"You too, Ms. Izumi." Lissa waited until she was gone, and the bedroom door had shut, before she stepped into the bathroom with her borrowed towels and armful of bedclothes, really looking forward to a hot shower after so much time on the road. They _would've_ stayed at a hotel in Rush Valley, but after getting trapped at Dominic's shop… Well… Lissa was starting to feel really gross. Not to mention her bandages were days old and pretty worn down by now.

 _Ed needs to change his too,_ she realized, frowning. _I'll pin him down in a bit._

Lissa stripped out of her rather gross road clothes—Izumi had said earlier on they could all do some laundry while they stayed in Dublith, thankfully—and stepped into the shower eagerly, not even waiting for the water. She just dealt with it on the fly, nearly scalding herself before she found the right temperature, but it was just so nice to rinse all the dirt off that she didn't mind. Hot showers had been a _luxury_ over the past few years, honestly, something that they just didn't always have time for. Lissa never made a fuss about it, though. After all, she'd orchestrated her whole presence there, her participation with the boys' journey, so it'd be stupid to complain. She wouldn't trade them for all the hot showers in the world.

Keeping Izumi's words in mind, Lissa borrowed her shampoo, though she was careful not to use too much. She was allowed to use anything she wanted, supposedly. Sighing, she raised her arms to scrub the soap into her hair, digging her fingers down to her scalp, and waited for the twinge of pain from her broken ribs.

But it didn't come. Lissa rolled her shoulders experimentally, tested by pushing them forward and then squeezing her shoulderblades together, both actions that had caused her some pretty serious pain before…but nothing happened this time. Weird.

She shrugged it off and ducked under the spray to rinse her hair, chalking it up to just having a good healing factor.

Lissa finished up in the shower, wrapped herself in a towel, and twisted her hair up in a second one, ignoring that part for a minute. She first dried herself, and then stood there in her underwear for a minute, feeling awkward and embarrassed at staying half-naked in someone else's house… But she had to redo her bandages before she got dressed, even if her chest didn't really hurt anymore. Doctor's orders and all that.

It took her a good ten minutes to clean the bathroom back to its former state, but she wasn't going to risk being booted out of what she understood to be the larger bathroom. Apparently the downstairs shower was tiny and sparse—hence why the boys had to use it.

When that was finished, Lissa re-twisted her hair into a towel and left the bathroom behind, padding in sock feet straight down the hall and into the room she'd be sharing with the boys. It wasn't as awkward as Izumi thought it could be, since it only had two beds, because Alphonse didn't need one. She and Edward would each get their own, though it did mean Lissa was _yet again_ taking a bed that had once been Al's. She'd have to make it up to him somehow.

Lissa stepped inside and shut the door behind her, a little baffled to see just Al sitting between the beds, reading a book. "Hey, Al," she greeted, tossing her dirty clothes down onto her backpack, where it sat against the foot of her bed. "Where'd your brother run off to?"

"Oh, hey, Lissa. Brother's still showering downstairs, I think," he told her brightly. "I'm surprised Teacher let you use the bathroom up here, she used to get so mad at us for messing it up too much."

Lissa smirked at him. "Well, I cleaned it up. She warned me ahead of time." She sighed and crouched down, digging around in her backpack for her stash of first aid items. "I need to make sure Ed takes care of his stiches, otherwise he'll forget… Do you think you'll be okay here if I just run down right now?"

Al bobbed his head. "Yeah, I'll be okay." He tipped his head and gave her a look that felt like he was smiling—she knew the shifts in his emotions better nowadays. "I'm glad you're looking out for him. He'd never remember on his own."

"Eh, that's what I'm here for," she dismissed. Lissa patted him on the head and stepped back out, armed with antiseptic, cotton balls, gauze, and skin-safe tape to handle the stitches, just like she'd seen at the hospital. This was why she'd paid so much attention, after all… If she didn't do it, he'd just leave them alone and risk the infection.

It was a bit awkward to walk through Izumi and Sig's house while they slept, though Lissa didn't really have a choice in the matter. If she waited for Ed to come upstairs, he'd be dressed and she might not convince him to let her look after his stitches. He was stubborn like that when he wanted to be.

The shower wasn't running when Lissa approached the bathroom door—but she didn't take that as a signal to just…go bursting inside. That was just _asking_ for trouble, either in the form of walking in on something she didn't want to see, or giving Ed _way_ too much fuel to tease her with. And she really didn't want to give him more fuel than he already had. So she paused at the door and knocked twice, careful not to be so loud she risked walking Izumi and Sig up.

"What's up?" Ed called through the door.

Lissa grabbed onto the knob and turned, pushing past it and stepping into the bathroom. He would've told her to wait if she needed to, after all. "I need to clean your…stitches…" She froze in place, one hand still on the door, staring wide-eyed at Ed…who was standing in the middle of the bathroom dripping wet, with just a single towel wrapped loosely around his waist.

"Um…r-right, yeah, my…stitches…" Ed mumbled faintly.

Her brain had just…short-circuited. Lissa knew she ought to turn away, to go right out the way she'd come in and apologize, but she just…couldn't tear her eyes away. A slow flush was creeping up his neck the longer she stared, standing utterly immobile like an idiot with her jaw hanging.

The supplies clattered to the floor as Lissa's arm muscles gave up, and she squeaked at the sudden noise, finally breaking whatever stupid spell was on her and dropping to her knees to collect it all. "I'm so sorry," she blurted, keeping her eyes firmly on the damp tiles. "I thought—you didn't say—I shouldn't have just…" She trailed off, feeling so _stupid_ , both for just bursting in like that _and_ for babbling at him. This was ridiculous, it wasn't like they hadn't showered in the same hotel room plenty, and she'd seen him in just his underwear plenty of times. This wasn't _new_.

But it was, somehow… She just didn't want to unpack _why_.

When Lissa had gathered her supplies and looked up, she was only a little better prepared for his…distinct lack of clothing. He was still damp from the shower, his golden-blond hair hanging around his shoulders, wet bangs drooping over his face… In this light, cast from a bulb above the sink, she could see the definition across his abdomen, the lean cut of his arms, how every inch of him seemed to be toned down to muscle and little else… And…she could see the scars, too, from all the injuries he'd sustained as well as…on his right shoulder and chest, where the automail met his skin, harsher and older than the others, discolored, cutting deep ruts into his muscles. It had to hurt. Lissa knew it did sometimes, when the weather was bad, but really taking a moment to just…look… She thought it must be more painful than he let on.

"I know," he muttered, reaching up and pressing his hand over the marred skin. "It's not exactly pretty, is it? Sorry, I'll… I'll find another towel."

Lissa shot to her feet, abandoning everything on the floor, and grabbed his automail wrist before he could turn away. "No!" Her voice rang out against the tiles, echoed too harshly in the little room, much sharper than she'd intended it. Ed just stared at her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and didn't dare to speak. "You don't need to hide from me," she told him softly. "Not this… Not anything, Ed. I promise."

His lips curled into a self-deprecating smile. "There's a reason I don't walk around with my automail out, Lissa. I'm not stupid, I know it's kind of horrific to look at."

"But it's not." She lifted his arm, the automail one, and held it out in front of her. It was already banged up, dented, scratched, like he'd been through a hundred battles instead of just a few. He wasn't exactly careless with it, but he did rely on it a lot… And it spoke to what kind of life they led, to see the state of his automail.

Lissa frowned when she spotted water still lingering on the metal. "You haven't dried it," she murmured.

"Oh, yeah… I hadn't gotten to that yet," Ed admitted, giving a slight tug like he'd move away.

But Lissa didn't let go. She took a hand towel from the rod by the sink and set about it herself, meticulously drying all along the prosthetic, tucking her fingers into the smaller cracks to make sure she got all the water out. "You've got to look after yourself," she reminded him softly as she worked, conscious that his eyes never left her once. "That's why I came down here to clean your stitches… I knew you wouldn't be thinking about yourself, Ed. You never do."

He sighed roughly. "I have other things to worry about."

"Which you won't _get_ to keep worrying about if you don't take care of yourself," Lissa pointed out. But it wasn't a rebuke—she kept her voice gentle, even, totally fixated on her task. Once the automail was dry, though…she found she didn't want to step back. Instead she carefully began to dry off his shoulder, the skin around the automail, watching his throat constrict at her touch.

Lissa rested the towel against the automail, held in place by her left hand, and gently brushed her thumb across the scarring beside his port. Ed flinched in surprise, his breath hitching in his chest. "Liss… Don't… It's horrible, you don't need to pretend it's not."

She smiled faintly. "When do I ever lie to you, huh?" She let the towel fall to the floor and smoothed her fingers up and over his shoulder, tracing the edge of the discolored scars, her touch feather-soft. "It's _not_ horrible, Ed. Don't say that, not about this…or…or any part of yourself." Lissa traced her right hand across his chest, just the pads of her fingers leaving chills in their wake, and pressed her palm over his heart. "You of all people have nothing to be ashamed of. Not a single thing."

His golden eyes met hers, his jaw trembling faintly, the expression on his face so vulnerable it took her breath away. And Lissa accepted then, with her whole entire being, what she'd been denying so vehemently—she wanted Edward, in any capacity, any form he wished… She wanted to kiss him, to soothe the heaviness he carried on his shoulders, to call him _hers_ , wrap him in her arms, protect him from everything that might try to harm him… Lissa knew, down to her very soul, that she was completely lost to this boy.

And for once…she wasn't afraid of it.

Lissa felt a smile tug her lips upward as she leaned into him, feeling his muscles shift under her palm as he tensed, and pressed her lips to the skin of his shoulder, the place causing him so much grief, so much pain… His left arm shot up with a sudden jolt, his fingers tight against her hip, her lower back, as though he couldn't decide whether to push her away or pull her closer.

"Liss…" It was scarcely a word, just a sigh that rushed past her ear, both a plea and a warning.

"It's okay," she soothed him, and pulled back far enough to meet his frantic gaze. "Trust me, please… You've trusted me with your life before, Ed… You can trust me with this…"

He sucked in a breath as she leaned back down, stepping closer, and kissed him again just above the last one, then again, her lips trailing the curve of his port to the top of his shoulder, the side of his neck…and then back down, to the base of his throat, the hollow dip there. All through it, Lissa kept her palm against his chest, over his heart, feeling his heartbeat pounding against her skin. She could feel how anxious she'd made him, how much she affected him, just by how rapid his heart rate had turned. But he didn't ask her to stop. He didn't flinch again.

Lissa slowly lifted upright, her breath catching in her throat when she realized Ed's eyes were shut… Not clenched in distress, but lightly, his lips parted, his own breathing steady and calm. He really had given up control to her… He'd trusted her, allowed himself to be completely vulnerable, opened that side of himself in a way she'd never seen before…

She knew she couldn't act on what she felt. Lissa knew without a single doubt she had to continue on as though she _didn't_ feel that way towards him, as though she weren't utterly lost to him—for his sake, if not her own. She had to take care of this boy, who couldn't seem to do it himself, who had to carry the whole fucking world on his shoulders every day. And taking care of him… It didn't entail giving in to her emotions.

"I told you, Ed," she murmured, stepping back and smiling as his eyes fluttered open. "You don't need to hide from me. Not ever."

Edward looked at her a moment, his expression conflicted, like he was wrestling with something—then he smiled back, ever so softly, and reached out to brush his thumb across her bottom lip. "I'll try to remember that," he told her quietly.

Lissa caught his hand in hers and squeezed, just once. "I need to clean your stitches now, okay?" She had to move on—because if she didn't…she'd do something they both might regret. "I'll—step out so you can at least put some clothes on, but it'll be easier if you keep your shirt off for now, if…if that's all right."

He blinked, maybe caught off guard by the change in her demeanor, but nodded anyway. "Yeah, I… That does need to be done."

She gathered her first aid supplies and stepped outside then, and shut the door behind her, sucking in a deep breath and pressing her back into the door. Lissa had never lost control like that… Ed had been vulnerable, true, but she hadn't realized just how vulnerable _she_ felt too, like her soul had been put on display, out in the open for anyone to see. A hundred things could've gone wrong. He could've rebuked her, he could've been angry she'd crossed a line, she could've entirely ruined their friendship…

 _But I didn't. Ed wasn't angry with me. He seemed…content. Happy. But that would mean…_

Where there had been a door at her back one second—in the next second, Ed pulled the door open, likely with the intent to let her know he was ready… But the sudden loss of support behind her unbalanced Lissa, and she toppled backwards right into his chest.

Ed caught her under the arms and hoisted her upright, laughing as she scowled at him. "Sorry, Liss. I didn't know you were right there."

"Yeah, well…" She wrinkled her nose at him. "Thanks for catching me, at least. Here, come sit down in the dining room, there's better light in there." Lissa led him across into the dining room and nudged him into one of the wooden chairs, while she flicked on the overhead light, set out all her supplies, washed her hands, and got ready for the rather anxiety-inducing task ahead. Still… It had to be done.

Lissa knelt on Ed's left side and carefully peeled back the bandages he'd left on. They were the same ones he'd gotten at the hospital, which meant they'd not only been through Rush Valley and his frantic chase after Paninya, but _also_ through his shower.

"Dummy," she mumbled, rolling her eyes. "You're supposed to change these at least once a day. Didn't the doctor tell you that?"

"Eh, probably. I just wanted to get out of there, to be honest," he told her bluntly, shrugging. "I've healed stitches before, it's no big deal."

She frowned up at him. "Oh? And when exactly did you have stitches in the double digits, hm? I don't remember that happening since I've known you." Lissa watched him sniff and look away, feigning ignorance. "Honestly," she sighed wearily, "what would you do without me?"

Ed smirked at that. "I really hope I never find out."

There wasn't space to handle _that_ comment, so Lissa just moved on with her task instead. First she sterilized the area around the stitches with a cotton ball and some antiseptic, in case any dirt or debris had found its way in. Then she took a little cup of water and some antibacterial soap, got the suds going on her fingers, and carefully washed off the stitches themselves. He winced at that, his automail fist tightening where it sat atop the table, but he didn't make a sound. Once the stitches were rinsed—another painful moment—Lissa carefully patted the whole area dry with a fresh paper towel. She had a little ointment from the hospital in a jar, which was applied atop the stitches as a protectant underneath a nonstick gauze pad. The pad she taped down with a few ripped-off pieces of skin-safe tape, careful to keep it flush with his skin, ensuring the whole wound was covered.

"There," she announced, standing up and grinning at him. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

He touched his finger to the tape almost thoughtfully. "Not too bad, no… You're a lot gentler than the nurses at Central, y'know."

Lissa crossed to the sink and washed her hands again, drying them on the hand towel as she peered over her shoulder at him. "Well, I'm not as used to doing it, so that doesn't really surprise me. How does it feel? I hope it's secure enough, I don't want it falling off during the night or something."

"It's perfect, Liss, don't worry," he reassured her.

She leaned back into the countertop and sighed, feeling the threads of guilt stabbing into her chest like tiny little knives. "Al's going to be worried," she murmured. "I left him up there ages ago, he's probably wondering where we got to."

Ed quirked a smile. "He's a smart kid, he'll know you got held up dealing with me."

"Dealing with you," Lissa repeated, the words sour on her tongue. "I don't _deal_ with you, Ed. Don't be a dummy."

"Though that's what I am," he quipped.

She couldn't help but smirk at him. "Only sometimes."

Ed sank back into the chair, folding his hands together, his thumbs worrying against each other. She knew something was weighing on him—and there was no reason to pry. He'd tell her. "Earlier… Al and I were talking, thinking back about when we trained here with Teacher… And…we realized something. Lissa…" He met her gaze. "Teacher can perform transmutations without a circle, like I can. She's seen the Truth."

"You mean…" Lissa felt the world tilt beneath her for a moment. "Ms. Izumi performed human transmutation?"

He nodded tensely. "Yeah. She must have—that's the only way I know to gain that ability." Ed stretched out his legs in front of him and crossed his ankles, his eyes turning faraway as he drifted into his thoughts. "We're going to ask her about it tomorrow. Even though she doesn't know about the Philosopher's Stone, since she's been through the portal, she might have an idea how to…get our bodies back. Not that we're going to _tell_ her."

"She might already have guessed it," Lissa pointed out reluctantly. "I hate to say it, but it's kind of hard to miss Al being hollow."

Ed grimaced. "It's easier for you, sensing all the little shifts in the air. She might not know."

"Still, I'd hate to be the one to ask her," she muttered. "Ms. Izumi told me earlier she's going to treat me how she does you and Al—like I'm her pupil too. So…I think I'm gonna die tomorrow, Ed. I really do."

He gave her an apologetic look. "I probably shouldn't have told her that you're technically my trainee, huh?"

"Oh, I dunno… I think telling your _teacher_ that you took on an apprentice was a _great_ idea."

"Just rub it in, why dontcha…"

Lissa giggled and crossed back to him, gathering up all the supplies she'd brought down and holding them to her chest. "C'mon, dummy. Let's go before Al comes looking for us. Besides, it's late. I'd like to go into my death well-rested."

He rolled his eyes and stood up, draping an arm around her fondly. It was such a familiar gesture that it made her feel warm all over. "Stop talking like that, Lissa. Seriously."

"Okay, okay," she relented, and let him guide her out of the kitchen and back upstairs. "So, any pointers for fighting your teacher? She's better than me, I know that, and _apparently_ it's gonna take a lot of effort to be faster than her… I'll take anything I can get at this point."

"Um…" Ed grinned sheepishly. "Try to lose gracefully?" When she glared at him, he laughed and shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. Al and I can give you some tips before we go to sleep."

"You'd better," Lissa told him firmly. They paused outside the bedroom door, and she moved into his path, just for a moment. "Ed… Please… Try not to forget what I said earlier, okay?" she asked of him softly, hopefully much too quietly for Alphonse to hear. "I'm not going anywhere, so you won't lose the reminder, but… Really try to remember it. Okay?"

He smiled gently and rested his forehead against hers. "Okay, Liss. I'll try."

Lissa kissed his cheek, making him flush pink. "That's all I ask."


	19. Revelations

Sooooo I just sat for 6hrs getting a huge, really badass FMA tattoo, which is only about half-finished at the moment. My leg is dying. BUT in honor of this I am putting out the next chapter! It seems like an appropriate way to celebrate having Ed's face stabbed into my leg repeatedly. IMPORTANT NOTE: This is probably the biggest deviation from either anime, here in Dublith. I followed the manga timeline for my own purposes, so it'll seem a bit backwards from FMA:B. I did my utmost to keep it fluid and explain it enough so that nobody will be confused, but please please let me know if it isn't effective! Now, I'm going to post this and go rest my leg... So enjoy, lovelies!

* * *

"Again!"

Lissa panted, swiped blood from the corner of her mouth—and shifted, left right left right left, zigzagging a path in towards Izumi. She'd surprised the boys' teacher, just a bit. Not just when she'd unquestioningly accepted her offer-order to spar, but when Lissa had thrown herself into it at full capacity, transmuting the air almost constantly, shifting between particles with no resistance, the air shimmering blue all around her. It had been enough to let her land a hit or two, but Izumi was wicked fast and didn't hold back in her own attacks, either. The boys had warned Lissa that their teacher fought all-out, heedless of injuries, but it was still surprising to end up in a fight _this_ fierce when it was just supposed to be a sparring match.

Well, a sparring match and a lesson. Izumi was definitely teaching, in her own way, constantly correcting Lissa on her form, the angle of her attacks, even her uses of alchemy.

She sensed the faintest ripple in the air as Izumi raised a leg, and Lissa reacted to it immediately, though she didn't change her trajectory. At the last second, she eliminated all the air resistance around her and slid on her knees beneath Izumi's kick, leaping to her feet on the far side and twisting back with a crescent kick of her own. Izumi deflected it with the flat of her arm, but Lissa felt a savage stab of victory anyway. _Anything_ she landed was a victory.

Lissa rolled with the shove that followed the block, borrowing one of Ed's moves and rounding off her hand to put some distance between them. It didn't last long. Izumi came at her again, quicker than Lissa had expected—so she raised her hands and drew on the particles around her, increasing the resistance in Izumi's path.

"Very good," she told her, smirking as her every step became labored, like pushing through sludge. "Your control is admirable." Izumi clapped her hands together and pressed them to the ground, and Lissa stumbled back as a pillar of earth came hurtling up under her feet. She only narrowly avoided being knocked fifty damn feet into the air! Lissa knew this was a weak spot for her—she just couldn't sense the shifting beneath her feet, the changes that took place underground to use alchemy that way. Her abilities didn't allow for it.

"But you have very obvious blind spots, once your opponent knows how you use alchemy," Izumi continued as she kept up the barrage.

Lissa gritted her teeth and sprang upward as another pillar shot up beneath her. She kicked off it, leaping up, and twisted midair as she came down to absorb the shock. "That's true," she agreed breathlessly. And it was—she only had so many transmutation circles tattooed, after all. But she _did_ have one more trick up her sleeve.

She rolled _forward_ , in towards Izumi, as she tensed her fingers and curled them, dragging in all the dust generated from Izumi's alchemical attack. The air was full of so many tiny particles of dirt…which meant _metals_. Lissa could work with that.

As she sprang to her feet, Lissa met Izumi's incoming physical attack with the middle of a staff she transmuted right into her hands. She twisted the makeshift weapon and nearly caught Izumi's arm up in it—but the woman was too fast. She brought her hands together and gripped one onto Lissa's staff, shattering it immediately.

Lissa stumbled with the blow, tried to shift—but Izumi knocked her feet out from under her and planted a foot on her abdomen.

 _Shit._

She stared up at Izumi, not bothering to try and escape or keep going. Lissa had lost that one, fair and square, and she couldn't even feel bad. She'd gotten in some hits of her own, though she knew damn well after all the boys told her the night before not to go for Izumi's core—she was still sick, after all—and thought, at least privately, that she'd put up a good fight.

"Your abilities are quite interesting," Izumi observed, looking down at her almost imperiously. "But you're very reliant upon them. You need to spend more time sparring without the use of alchemy as a crutch." Her expression softened, just minutely, and she stepped back to give Lissa room to stand. "However… A decent effort, overall. Judging from your repertoire of moves, you've had very mixed training over the years, am I correct?"

Lissa nodded, licking a bit of blood from her lips. "I was lucky enough to train with a lot of different alchemists and soldiers since I was seven. Some of it was just standard hand-to-hand, but…some of them had really specialized styles. I picked up what I could."

Izumi folded her arms over her chest thoughtfully. "I see. It shows, certainly. But it also does you a disservice. You're accustomed to fighting opponents who use one or two styles of combat, rather than an entire array, such as yourself. Your ability to recognize those styles and understand how best to retaliate needs work."

She was so…matter of fact about it. Lissa couldn't even be offended, honestly, she just tried to take in every criticism. If she wanted to protect the boys…she'd need to improve. This was an opportunity, not an insult.

No matter what it felt like.

"Thank you, Ms. Izumi," she murmured, bowing at the waist.

Izumi raised her eyebrows. "Hmph. It's not often I get _thanked_ after a session like that…" She then scowled, but her ire wasn't directed at Lissa in the slightest. "Where did you say you grew up again, Lissa?"

"Um…in Central. My parents died when I was seven, and because I already had studied alchemy I was placed in a sort of…military-based educational facility there." Lissa shrugged faintly, a bit confused by the line of questioning. She'd mentioned it during breakfast, just in passing, and it hadn't seemed to mean much then. "I'm from Rayerk originally, but I don't remember much." She curbed the desire to ask _why_ , guessing Izumi didn't take kindly to her motives being questioned.

She nodded absently, already deep in thought as she turned away and began cleaning up the yard, using a little alchemy to put the everything back to sorts. Lissa wondered what had made Izumi so interested in her past for a moment.

"Nice job," Ed told her softly, squeezing her shoulder. "That was some fight, Liss."

"Yeah, you were amazing," Al agreed earnestly.

Lissa gave a rueful grin. "I still lost. I mean, I expected to, but I lost."

"Eh, don't sweat it. I've never seen anybody win against Teacher," Ed dismissed, smirking.

Izumi rose from her task and stood a moment, contemplating—then she spoke up in a low, serious tone. "So, boys… What was it you wanted to ask me earlier?"

Ed almost flinched in surprise. "Um, well…" He looked up at Al sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

 _Clap!_

Lissa backed away, Al right beside her, as Izumi transmuted a spear out of the wall in front of her, a move so similar to Ed's preferred method that Lissa realized he'd stolen the technique from his teacher.

Then Izumi spun and launched into a flurry of quick, decisive attacks on Ed.

He leapt back, clearly caught off guard, but recovered well—he got a hand on the end of her spear, the nonlethal side, and deflected a kick from her moments later. Izumi refused to let up, her attacks harsher, more severe than anything Lissa had faced. She almost wanted to help, her instinct from years of fighting together kicking in and _screaming_ at her to run to his aid… But this was his _teacher_. She couldn't interfere.

Izumi reared back, swung the spear around—and then shoved forward, sending the blade directly at Edward's stomach.

With a yell, Ed brought his hands together and transmuted his automail, the blade ripping through his glove. He brought his right arm up sharply and cut clean through Izumi's spear, severing it below the blade and saving himself…but only with a demonstration of his abilities.

 _Oh, no. She was just forcing him to reveal it, wasn't she?_

Izumi scowled down at him. "As I suspected, you can transmute without a matrix!"

Ed gasped and staggered back a step, realizing too late what he'd done. And he'd been trying to keep it a secret, well…that wasn't an option anymore.

"On top of which, Al is now a suit of armor!" Izumi continued irritably, pointing up at him. Then she shifted her attention back to Edward and added, with a jab in his direction, "And two of your limbs are made from automail!"

Lissa winced and tugged at the edge of her own gloves uncomfortably. She'd realized all of it.

"Teacher, how did you know?" Ed asked anxiously, pressing his left hand onto his right arm in a sort of reflex.

Izumi scoffed and slammed the end of her spear into the ground. "Please, I could tell from sparring with you!" She narrowed her eyes and fixed her gaze on Ed, something darker creeping in around the edges of her expression. Lissa felt a chill, despite the warm day. "You saw it," Izumi began lowly. "Didn't you, Edward?" When he didn't reply she pounded the spear down and yelled, " _You saw it!_ "

"Y-yes!" he admitted, cringing away from her, his expression crumbling.

Izumi sighed and tossed her spear away, looking so deeply…sad. "It seems both of us are beyond help," she murmured.

Ed looked up at her in shock. Maybe he hadn't expected her to admit it so easily… Maybe he'd never really believed it… But the look on his face nearly broke Lissa's heart. "Teacher… You saw it too," he whispered, his voice unsteady. "Could you tell me…"

She stared down at him for a moment, considering. "I suppose…you deserve to know, now."

Izumi left them standing there and walked back inside, clearly intending them to follow…but though Al and Lissa made to go after her, Ed seemed…too stunned to move, at first. He just stood there, clutching his automail arm so tightly, staring at the ground with his brows furrowed, distressed, clearly lost inside his own head.

Lissa crossed to him and took his hand, gently pulling his fingers off the automail. "Come on," she murmured softly. "It'll be okay, Ed."

He looked up at her and sighed. "I hope so."

—

She knew, standing with her fingers twined into the hem of Ed's jacket, that this was going to be…difficult. Lissa had learned so long ago what the boys had done, and seen it for herself… They'd never needed to explain all of the horrors to her. She'd seen enough to piece it together without ever making them relive all the details. But Izumi's story was different, that much was obvious from the expressions on hers and Sig's faces as they settled in the dining room to tell their story, the truth of why she'd attempted human transmutation.

"For a while, it seemed we were barren," Izumi began softly, slowly. She was the only one seated, either her illness or her emotions keeping her off her feet. "We wanted a child but couldn't conceive. When we were finally able to conceive…I ended up falling gravely ill."

Lissa thought her heart might stop. She knew, she _knew_ where this was going… But oh, she didn't want it to be true, not for a moment…

"And our child as well… He was not able to take a living breath in this world. And so…" Her eyes turned down, her expression falling even further. "I committed the taboo." She sighed deeply, wearily, one hand raising to press into her abdomen. "As a result, I lost parts of my inner organs. What an _idiot_ I was."

The irony was sickening. A boy who only wanted his mother back lost the ground beneath his feet and his brother, the only person he had left in the world, lost all ability to feel another's warmth. A woman who only wanted a child had the ability to conceive stripped away. This Truth, this entity through the gateway… Lissa _hated_ it, more than she'd hated anything before in all her life. It wasn't equivalency, it wasn't a fair exchange, it…it wasn't _fair_. How could it be right to take those things away? To rip the leg from a little boy, the body from another, the organs of a woman…without warning, without a sign, just…gone…

Lissa heard the creaking of metal under strain, and looked up through her fringe to see Ed's hand clinging tight to his automail, distorting the fabric of his sleeve. Slowly, afraid to startle him, she unwound her fingers from his jacket and reached behind him cautiously. Her fingers crept across his automail from behind, her arm lightly pressed into his back as she brushed her fingers atop his—just enough to settle him, to release that tension. When he'd stopped gripping himself so tightly, she went to move her arm back—but his fingers closed around hers and held her there, pulling her in closer. And how could she possibly say no?

"Now I realize I should've told you sooner," Izumi admitted, looking across at the boys with her eyebrows deeply furrowed. "It must have been awful."

Ed's fingers tightened around Lissa's almost painfully as he looked up at Izumi in shock, struggling for a moment. But then he forced a smile as best he could. "Nah, I did it to myself after all," he told her, his tone buoyant with false lightness. "It hasn't been that big a deal, actually."

"Besides," Al chirped, hurrying to add his own feigned ease, "now I've got this long list of things I get to look forward to eating when I have my body back. Right, brother?"

Lissa pressed her lips together hard, fighting back a sudden wave of tears. They were…trying to reassure her, she realized. The boys didn't want Izumi to feel guilty, or feel that she'd somehow caused what they did, failed to prevent it—so they were putting on this act, pretending it hadn't been nearly as terrible, just to try and make her feel better.

"Yeah! It's nothing!" Ed agreed, grinning.

Izumi rose and crossed to them unnoticed, and Lissa stepped back, carefully freeing her fingers from Ed's. She didn't want to get in the way for a moment.

"You darling little idiots," Izumi murmured, her tone swelling with fondness as she put her arm around Ed's shoulders first, then Al's, drawing them both into an embrace. She'd seen through them completely. "It's okay to hurt."

The reassurance was so simple, so easy… It took Lissa's breath away. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips, biting down until she tasted blood, just to keep the tears back. It wasn't about her—it wasn't about her life and her experiences, not for a moment, but it struck her heart all the same. All the losses, her absent memories, the system that swept in and stole her childhood… Most days she could keep it away, could push back the hollowness and the sorrow and the acute ache of loss… But just then… Faced with those words… _It's okay to hurt._

But against this…against what Ed and Al had suffered, what Izumi had suffered…

 _No. Not here._

Lissa opened her eyes to see Izumi had crossed the room and given the boys a moment to compose themselves. It had been _years_ since she'd seen Ed get remotely that close to crying himself—he was truly shaken by all of this.

"To think that you saw _it_ and managed to survive," Izumi mused, staring thoughtfully out the window. "I doubt you even know how impressive that is."

Ed looked at her uncertainly. "I…no," he admitted quietly.

"Regardless… I can't accept the decision you made."

Lissa swallowed hard. That didn't sound good…

Izumi turned to face the boys, her expression harsh and near-merciless as she regarded them. "You're expelled."

Al reached for her, seeming horrified and shocked. "But—Teacher-"

But Ed reached up and put his arm across his brother's chest. "Al," he murmured, cutting him off from arguing any further.

"The trains are still running," Izumi told them shortly, turning back to the window. "Get on one."

Looking like it took every bit of strength he had left, Ed bowed at the waist and all but choked out, "Thank you… For everything."

—

Sig saw them down to the train station, while Izumi remained at the house. Lissa felt lost, wrong, like she _knew_ this wasn't the right thing to do—but she had no idea how to fix any of it. She didn't know Izumi, but she recognized the defeat clinging to the boys as they walked back to the station. They'd…given up.

"Are you sure about this, Ed?" she asked quietly, reaching out to brush her fingers along his gloved left hand. She'd taken his cloak partway there to free his arm, just in case.

He sighed and shook his head. "No. But…we don't have a choice."

Outside the station, they paused to say their goodbyes, standing in an open archway. "Feel free to drop by if you're ever in town," Sig told them almost amiably.

Al wilted a bit. "I'm not so sure about that."

Sig's eyes narrowed. "You _idiots_!" he snapped. "You're so busy pouting you can't see what your expulsion means. You aren't her students anymore, so now you're finally free to speak to Izumi as equals!" he explained, a bit harshly—but the boys stared up at him like he was changing their whole world. "Unless, of course, you're too chicken to try it."

Of _course_! Lissa almost grinned as he spoke, realizing she'd been right—there was more going on here than a simple expulsion.

"Aw, _damn_!" Ed groaned, smacking his own face. "Al, we haven't done what we came here to do in the first place!" He grabbed Lissa's free hand tightly and turned back to Sig. "Thank you! We're going back there right now!"

As he yanked her away, racing down the street with Al keeping pace, Lissa heard Sig call, "Don't let her kill you!"

"Kill us?" she hissed, glaring sideways at Ed as they ran. "Well, this should be a fun visit. Do you think she'll actually tell you anything?"

"Maybe—if we're lucky," Al told her. "But we have to try!"

They ran all the way back to Izumi and Sig's house, through alleyways Lissa might've been a bit worried to traverse on her own, but wasn't afraid of with the boys—and finally skidded to a halt outside the door, nearly tumbling over one another. Lissa squeezed down on Ed's hand and gave him a firm nod, and one to Al too. "Good luck," she told them encouragingly.

"Thanks, Lissa." Al inclined his head.

"Stay behind us, okay? She might…" Ed swallowed. "React badly."

Apparently that was enough preparation, because with that, he flung the door open and stepped inside, yelling, "Teacher!"

Izumi flung the knife she'd been sharpening right at him—he screamed in shock and ducked down, narrowly avoiding being stabbed through the head. "What the hell are you doing, coming back here?!" she demanded, enraged. "And you call me _Teacher_?! I do not teach scum like you! Get out of my home!"

Ed gritted his teeth and dragged Al in beside him, refusing to give up. The both knelt before her, submissive and yet somehow aggressive, and Ed rammed his automail fist onto the floor determinedly. "Teacher!" he insisted.

"We came to you because we're trying to find a way to get our bodies back," Al explained, looking up at her. Lissa stood just inside the door, behind him, hoping Al's armor body would be enough to shield her. She'd taken the suitcase and Ed's cloak, in an attempt to keep track of her things, so she swung the suitcase around in front of her legs too, just in case.

"And we won't leave without your help!" Ed told her fiercely.

Izumi glared at them. "Get out now!"

But they just didn't back down. "We're staying!" both Ed and Al retorted, rising to their feet, brave in the face of her rebuke.

Lissa thought it was admirable, honestly. She had a lot of respect for their determination.

For a moment, Izumi only glowered at them in return, waiting to see if they'd crack—but they didn't. They didn't even look away. Finally, she sighed and averted her own gaze, and muttered, "You idiots. Fine. If you want to be that stubborn, go right ahead." She turned and stalked out of the room without another word.

"Um…" Al glanced between the door and Ed, uncertain. "Should we…follow her?"

"Well?!" Izumi's voice thundered from down the hall. "Are you coming or are you leaving?"

Lissa winced and pulled the suitcase in closer to her body. "I think that's a yes, Al. We don't wanna keep her waiting."

They reconvened in the sitting room, Izumi on one couch facing the boys across a low coffee table, while the boys took the couch opposite. Lissa planted herself on the floor, between Ed's left leg and Al's right, happy to rest her back against the edge and stay close to them both. Though it was just wishful thinking to believe it'd protect her from Izumi's wrath, should anything happen.

"From my understanding," Izumi began, looking across at them thoughtfully, "Al… You didn't see the Truth, did you?"

Al shook his head. "No… I don't really even know what that means."

She put her thumb and forefinger around her chin as she considered that. "You must've lost your memory from the shock…" Izumi sat forward, uncrossing her legs, and told them firmly, "We need to get Al's memory back. His entire body was taken from him. Just _think_ what he must have seen."

Ed sat up sharply, eyes widening. "Oh yeah! We only exchanged parts of our bodies for what we saw, but Al paid the toll with his entire physical being. He must've seen more of the Truth than either of us did."

That _Truth_ entity again… Lissa's detestation of that thing burned in her chest. Whatever it was, whyever it existed, she despised it and everything it stood for.

"So…" Al tipped his head to one side. "If I can remember what I saw, then we'll know how to get our bodies back?"

Izumi turned away unhappily. "But the memory of that thing…"

Ed grimaced. "That _thing_ …"

"What, is it something bad?" Al asked, panicked.

"No," Izumi told him. "It's more like… _awful_ …"

"Yeah… And horrifying…"

"It could drive you insane."

"Or even leave you brain-dead."

Lissa pinched Ed's leg, wondering if he was _trying_ to scare his little brother, just to mess with him, or if he actually believed those things.

Al clenched his fists atop his legs. "That doesn't matter," he told them decisively. "If there's a chance that it can help us… Then I wanna do it." Goodness, that kid was so _strong_ , it was incredible to see. After everything, nobody could blame him if he just gave up, just rolled over and accepted it… But he just kept on pushing instead, refused to stop fighting even for a moment. It broke Lissa's heart.

Izumi nodded, accepting his choice. "All right. I have an acquaintance that might know a way to retrieve your memory for you."

The boys leaned forward, excited.

"But…" She inhaled and smiled at them, turning warm and almost motherly in a second. "Let's eat dinner first. Gimme a hand, you can all help."

"Okay!" the boys chorused.

Lissa hopped to her feet and grinned, pleased they were getting fed again. She didn't even mind helping out in the kitchen—as long as she had a recipe or some directions to follow, she was usually just fine. And Izumi was too much of a teacher not to have a particular method for everything. Feeling more at ease, Lissa stuck her hands into her pockets—and promptly remembered something important. "Oh, Ed, I almost forgot." She tugged the remnants of his poor shredded right-hand glove out and dangled it in front of him. "I snagged your glove earlier, since I didn't feel like having to hunt for the exact white fabric _again_."

He grinned sheepishly and took it, repairing it with a quick clap of his hands and a burst of blue energy. "Thanks, Liss. I should probably keep track of that stuff, huh?"

"Probably," she agreed, winding her arm around his. "But then I'd have nothing to do."

"Aw, that's not true!" Al told her quickly, sounding very serious even though she'd just been messing around. "Brother probably couldn't put his shirt on the right way without you at this point."

Lissa snorted a surprised laugh. She hadn't realized he'd been joking too.

Edward's face turned bright red. "Hey! _Al_ , c'mon, that's not fair!"

"It's just the truth," he quipped brightly.

Lissa grinned up at Alphonse as Ed grumbled to himself, muttering something about being able to take care of himself without any help—she wasn't sure that was true—and shooting little glares at her and Al every few moments.

"Come on, dummy," she laughed, and tugged him towards the door. "Let's get something to eat."

"Only if you don't make fun of me again."

"Eh…we'll see."

—

The next few days were all training, training, training. Lissa didn't mind—she felt like she was learning _so_ much, in everything they did. Her body ached, she was exhausted down to her bones every night, but it was…kind of nice, in a way. She'd spent plenty of time training with the boys over the years, but nothing like this, nothing so intensive. Izumi never let up. They studied and refreshed their minds while sparring, stretching, doing anything physical—which made the knowledge that much more second-nature. Even though Ed and Al had _technically_ been expelled as students, Izumi still treated them like pupils, and Lissa too, by default.

Though… Lissa had come to the conclusion pretty quickly that Izumi didn't like her much. She didn't treat Lissa poorly, by any means, but there was just…something in the way she acted, the way she talked at her, that made her certain of it. Not that she mentioned it to the boys. Lissa didn't want to burden them with it or upset them. Besides, they seemed happier in Dublith, happy to spend time around Izumi and train and exist in this little bubble. Who was she to alter that?

Lying on her back in Izumi's weight training room, Lissa contemplated the state of things while staring at the ceiling. She'd actually arisen early that morning, and come down here to work out her thoughts with some free weights. By the time Ed, Al, and Izumi came in, she was nearly finished—hence why she was being allowed to just lie there, stretching her legs one after another up towards her chest. Her hamstrings had gotten annoyingly tight from sitting on trains so much, so she was trying to work back to her old level of flexibility.

"Okay, seriously, how do you do that?" Ed asked her, leaning over his crossed legs and tapping her shoulder. "I can never just…lift my leg how you do. I always have to swing it up."

Lissa grinned and sat up. "Years of practice, plus a little natural flexibility. Watch and learn." She stood up on the mat, slid her right foot forward as she rolled onto the balls of her feet—and then slowly sank into the splits, all the way until she was resting on the floor.

Ed's jaw dropped. "Holy shit."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Wait, I've never done that in front of you before? I really thought I had."

Al giggled and shook his head. "No, brother's usually sleeping when you stretch."

"True," she acknowledged. "Well, you've definitely seen it, Al. Ed just misses all the fun stuff because he sleeps _forever_." Lissa pressed her hands into the mat and lifted up slightly, just enough to rotate into side splits, altering the stretch. Then she walked forward with her hands, dragging herself as close to flat on the floor as she could. "When I was younger I could go all the way flat," she commented, gritting her teeth as her muscles protested her attempts to drag her stomach onto the floor completely. "I need to work on that again."

"Show-off," Ed muttered under his breath.

Lissa lifted her head and smirked at him. "Says the one with probably fifty pounds on that barbell."

He tightened his fingers on the bar he'd brought up to rest across his shoulders, ready for him to continue the overhead presses he'd been doing before he got so distracted by Lissa stretching. "Seventy-five," he corrected smugly.

"You're just proving my point, you know that?"

Ed scoffed and went to lift the bar over his head—only to freeze up, an expression of pure horror coming over his face. "Oh, _shit_."

"What is it?" Al asked him, sounding worried. "You didn't throw your back out, did you?"

He shook his head faintly. "Liss… What day is it?"

She sat upright and bent her legs slightly to relieve the stretch, thinking. "Er… The fifteenth, isn't it? Why? It's not… Oh. _Oh_." Lissa suddenly mirrored his horrified expression. "Oh, _shit_. The thirteenth, we missed the damned thirteenth!"

Izumi scowled at them both, irritated without quite knowing the situation. "What did you miss, exactly?"

"I forgot this year's assessment," Ed explained in a moan, dropping the barbell from his shoulders and passing his hands over his face, distressed.

"Assessment?" she questioned, lifting an eyebrow.

"My annual state alchemist's assessment. If I don't do it, then they'll strip me of my title." Ed grabbed at his hair and moaned again. "We've been so damned _busy_ , I completely forgot. They'll be up my ass about this any second."

Izumi hopped to her feet and crossed to the room's phone. "Excellent. I'll just call Central HQ and let them know you're quitting."

" _What_?!" Ed leapt up after her and shook his head frantically. "No, no, no, I can't _quit_. I still need access to their files and if I back out, Lissa gets shipped off to Central and stuck with some other stupid alchemist instead." He grimaced, already knowing his fate. "There's nothing for it now. Liss and I have gotta go there in person to give the report and handle all the paperwork."

"Both of you?" Izumi asked, with a bit of a bite to her tone. Lissa almost winced away from her.

Ed nodded grimly. "Yeah. She's my trainee, so she's expected to confirm it and add something about her _continued education_. It's all crap anyway, just a stupid formality. But if we both don't show up it'll be a huge mess."

Lissa stood up and exchanged an unhappy grimace with him. The yearly assessment meetings weren't exactly a party—mostly formalities, red tape, and plenty of bluffing on Ed's part. They were also a bitter reminder that Lissa was still needlessly being kept from her exams, when she'd long since reached a point where she should've been fast-tracked, especially considering all her experience in the field. But _no_ , she kept getting shoved under the rug.

"We'd better get packed," Lissa sighed wearily. "It's gonna take at least a day to get back to Central on such short notice, and we're already late." Ugh… She really wasn't looking forward to the impending lecture from Mustang, either.

"Wait, isn't Southern HQ just a couple stops away?" Al pointed out helpfully. "Why don't you just go there instead?"

"Oh, yeah!" Ed brightened a bit. "Good idea. Thanks, Al!"

Quick as they could, Ed and Lissa threw on their traveling clothes, stuffed a couple spares into the suitcase—with Lissa adding some first-aid supplies as well—and within five minutes, they were waving goodbye to Al and Izumi and heading off for the station. Ed bought two tickets on the train heading south just ten minutes later, which was perfect.

"I hope they don't hold us up too long since we're late," Ed lamented, kicking his legs underneath the platform bench they'd snagged.

Lissa wrinkled her nose. "They shouldn't. Just put in something about how you were doing research in Dublith, and wanted to follow your lead and wrap up your loose ends before you put in your report."

"Good idea." He grinned at her. "See, this is why I make you help me write these things. You're as good at bullshitting as I am."

She rolled her eyes fondly. "Well, I _hear_ so much useful material all the time, you see…"

Ed poked her side with two fingers, making her squirm. "Thanks for that."

Lissa swatted his hand away and peered down the tracks, where she'd heard a train whistle blow. Sure enough, their train was rolling into the station right on time—a blessing, really. "D'you think Al will be okay? He _is_ stuck all on his own with Ms. Izumi."

"Eh, Teacher won't rough him up too bad. She'll probably put him to work, mostly, since he can't actually _get_ stronger." Ed rose and grabbed up the suitcase, tucking his cloak over the same arm and offering her a hand. "C'mon. If we hurry, we can get seats all to ourselves. I bet this train'll be super empty, hardly anybody wants to go further south than here."

She quirked a smile, glad that even after their little… _moment_ earlier in the week Ed was still comfortable with their closeness. Besides, it felt so natural to hold his hand, to be close with him, even in a way that was purely friendly—she wouldn't give that up for anything.

Sure enough, they went all way to the last car on the train and managed to get two whole benches to themselves, though a couple other riders gave the two dirty looks as they took over the entire space. Lissa just grinned and ignored them, spacing out the suitcase and Ed's cloak to take up one bench, while she took the space beside him and stretched her legs across to rest on the opposite bench. "Well, it's…what, a couple hours down to South City? It shouldn't be _too_ bad."

"Yeah, just a couple hours." Ed eyed her curiously. "How'd you know? Neither of us has been down this far before and I was the only one who read the schedule."

"I have, I used to go to South City all the time, and up to Dublith sometimes too," Lissa answered offhand, shrugging. "Fekief was the closest train station anyway, so it was a horse-and-carriage or a long-ass walk to the station, and then about…I think four or five hours all the way to Dublith."

Ed stared at her blankly, and Lissa wondered what she was missing. Why did he think she was being so….crazy? "Um, Liss… I'm kinda lost here. When did you do all that?"

Lissa pressed both hands to her mouth, suddenly feeling dizzy and overwhelmed, scarcely able to breathe. "I… Oh my gosh… I just… _remembered_ , Ed… I remembered that from when I was a kid, _before_ I came to Central, before my parents passed away! I _remembered_ something!" She grabbed his shoulders and grinned, absolutely overjoyed with the sudden knowledge. "Fekief is the closest train station to _Rayerk_ , where I was born! I didn't even know I knew that!"

He laughed and hugged her, crushing her into his chest and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "That's _amazing_ , Liss! Oh, man, I was so freaking confused for a second, I thought I'd totally lost it!"

"Sorry," she giggled, pulling back a bit sheepishly. "I didn't even realize it; I'm so used to not remembering anything that it didn't hit me at first." Lissa tucked a strand of hair behind her ears, suddenly feeling more than a little nervous—he'd been so… _casual_ about it, kissing her forehead that way, but… But she couldn't let things like that happen.

Not that it would be easy, considering they were facing a couple days _alone_.

"So what exactly did you remember?" he asked curiously. Lissa fought the urge to lean closer when he sank into the back of the bench and slung his left arm around her shoulders, casual and sweet.

"I remember traveling to South City for errands and things we couldn't get out in the middle of nowhere," Lissa mused, tipping her head back as she poked at the memories she hadn't even known she had. "It felt like it was _so_ far as a kid to go all the way to Dublith, like we were going to the other side of Amestris or something. It's weird, though…" She felt a pang in her chest as she registered what felt so strange about those memories. "In all of this…I still hardly remember my parents. I remember their _presence_ , I know they were around for it, but… It's all so fuzzy and indistinct."

Ed's hand tightened on her shoulder and pulled her into him. "I'm sorry, Liss. I wish I could help you with this stuff, I really do."

She frowned at him. "But you _do_ help me. You and Al, every single day you help me by just…being there. It kind of screws with your mind, not really knowing your own childhood… You feel like you're missing something essential…" Lissa smiled when his fingers clamped down again. "But… It's easier because I don't have to do it alone, you know? I have you guys, and you're _real_ , I don't have to rely on photographs or weird distant memories… And that's enough for me."

Slowly, his lips quirked up into a smile, though his hand didn't let up on her. "You know we're not going anywhere, right? It's not gonna be like your parents. Me and Al, we're always gonna be right there with you. You're pretty much stuck with us."

" _You're_ stuck with _me_ ," Lissa teased back, grinning now. She appreciated him keeping it lighthearted—kind of his way of refusing to let her get too far down into her emotions. "I mean, I basically forced my way in three years ago. I _refused_ to let you have any other options than to let me tag along."

He smirked and ruffled her hair, which she'd left down for the first time in several days—having it down wasn't conducive to training after all. "Psh. We wanted you around."

"That's nice to hear, at least." She shuffled down in the seat just a bit, conscious she was looking down on him when she sat at her full height. "Well, hopefully this doesn't take more than a day or two to get sorted out. Which reminds me… You have to write your report."

Ed groaned and rubbed his hand over his face. "Ugh. I don't _wanna_."

"It's either that or explain to the guys here at Southern HQ why you don't have one," she pointed out wryly.

"Yeah, yeah…" He sighed and yanked his notebook out of his pocket, thumbing to an unused page and reluctantly beginning to draft out a report. Lissa gave up and rested her head on his shoulder, exhausted of fighting the desire—and bit her lip when he leaned over, almost absently, and brushed his lips across her forehead.

 _Two days alone in South City. I'm so screwed._

* * *

The whole "assessment in South City" schtick is purely manga - and it affects the upcoming events back in Dublith just a bit too. But that'll become clear in the next couple chapters. (Also, poor Lissa.)


	20. A Small Detour

So this was simultaneously one of the most fun, yet frustrating chapters to write thus far. You'll see why! This also serves to fill in the gap of why Wrath went to Dublith in the first place, which FMA:B kind of glossed over though it was explained in the manga. As always, I hope you enjoy, and please let me know your thoughts!

* * *

" _ACHOO!_ "

Lissa dangled her handkerchief in front of Ed's face. "I think you caught something on the train," she told him wryly, earning a glare as he wiped at his nose for the tenth time in just under an hour. She'd started counting before they arrived in South City, at first just for fun but then out of genuine concern when he didn't get the sneezing and sniffling under control. They'd already managed to reach Southern HQ without the barrage ever letting up for more than a couple minutes.

"Or it's allergies," he shot back, pressing the handkerchief into her hand and ignoring the grossed-out scrunch of her nose. "Stupid southern weather."

"Resembool isn't exactly in the north, y'know."

"Yeah but I'm not used to being so far south all the time anymore," he half-whined, punctuating the statement with a watery sniffle. "This is so _stupid_ , I never get sick!"

Lissa patted his shoulder encouragingly. "Well, you might not be. I can admit that much at least." She scooted their suitcase forward with her foot, inching up in the ridiculously long line at Southern HQ's check-in desk. Ed sneezed again, covering it in the crook of his elbow, and she passed him the handkerchief again. "And you make fun of me for carrying that thing," she muttered.

He rolled his eyes. "It's still lame. Little old ladies carry around handkerchiefs, not teenagers."

"This teenager does."

"It's still for little old ladies."

Lissa stuck out her hand and beckoned with her fingers. "Oh? So you _don't_ want me to let you keep borrowing it?"

Ed pressed the little white square to his chest. "Nuh-uh."

"Then don't make fun of it." Lissa grinned, so he knew she was just messing around, and bumped her shoulder into his. "So what are we thinking, once we get out of this place tonight? Hotel or dorms?"

"Mmph, hotel please," he mumbled past the handkerchief, which he was now holding against his nose to keep a sneeze back. "If I _am_ getting sick I don't wanna do it in the dorms."

Lissa nodded, understanding that. "Maybe they'll have room service and we won't have to go wandering around here. We can take the night off." She scooted the suitcase again, nudging it with her foot, and made sure the tail of Ed's cloak didn't get under their feet as they shifted forward with the line. Thankfully they were almost at the front by now.

Soon enough they reached the desk, and after a brief conversation with the receptionist they were directed to the technique assessment department deeper in the building. Lissa snagged Ed's cloak before he could pick it up, though he stuck out his tongue at her for it—he preferred to carry everything himself, the dummy did—and they set off in search of the department. Central HQ was pretty well marked, with signs and directions and such, but Lissa and Ed quickly realized Southern HQ was, well… _not_.

"So where the hell is it, then?" Ed grumbled, sticking his head around the next corner and scowling. "What kinda stupid place doesn't have _signs_?!"

Lissa shrugged, feeling a bit frustrated herself. "Apparently this one." The hallway they were in was pretty deserted, but she could hear voices up ahead around the next corner, so she got Ed's attention and pointed in that direction helpfully. "Here, maybe we can ask somebody where the hell to go."

He nodded in defeat. "Yeah, probably a good idea." Ed hurried around the corner, Lissa at his heels, and asked the very first person he saw, "Excuse me? Where can I find the technique assessment department?"

But then he recoiled, yelping in surprise as none other than Major Alex Armstrong turned and beamed at them.

" _Major_?!"

Lissa just grinned up at him while Ed stumbled away. "Alex! What are you doing here? I didn't realize you'd been attached down here." She popped onto her toes and hugged him, ignoring the way her ribs creaked as he returned the gesture.

"Oh, no, I haven't been transferred," he assured her. "I was merely assigned to escort Führer Bradley for his inspection of Southern Headquarters."

Ed and Lissa exchanged poignant looks. The Führer? They'd managed to stop in when the _Führer_ was here? This was some bad timing, _exceptionally_ bad timing. She really didn't know how they got into messes like this. Because here they were, far from Central, researching the Philosopher's Stone—the exact thing Bradley had told them _not_ to do.

"In fact, the Führer is currently inspecting the technique assessment department," Alex continued. Lissa saw Ed's jaw drop. "I'll take you there myself. Come along."

With no other choice, they fell into step behind Alex, Ed still clutching Lissa's handkerchief and sniffling into it every once in a while. She didn't blame him—she'd had a cold once, only once, around Alex…and the reaction had been _astonishing_. The man was as overprotective as a person could be, she thought. Edward definitely didn't want to admit he was feeling a bit under the weather.

Soon enough, they found themselves standing in an office, shut inside with Alex and Führer Bradley himself, plus a couple other guards. Lissa had snatched the handkerchief back from Ed just before they went in, knowing damn well he'd out himself as sick otherwise—and then they _really_ might get into trouble for bringing germs around the Führer or something equally inane. She just didn't want to risk it.

"Ah, Fullmetal and his lovely young trainee," the Führer greeted brightly. "I'm glad to see you're both well."

"Thank you, sir," Ed mumbled a bit awkwardly.

Alex regarded him curiously from above. "You two came here for the assessment, did you not? We will handle that as quickly as possible."

"Ah, the assessment." Bradley extended his hand towards Ed. "Let me see your paperwork."

Looking baffled, Ed passed the sheet over, though Lissa could tell he wasn't entirely fond of just handing it over like that. She knew why—it'd be a whole other layer of paperwork hell if he had to get a replacement for _that_ one.

The Führer waved to one of his other guards. "My stamp, please." The guard brought a stamp, sitting on a sponge soaked in black ink—and right before their eyes, Führer Bradley quickly stamped Ed's assessment paperwork and signed it, without so much as asking or even looking up for a moment. "There," he declared, pleased, and handed it back across to Edward. "You've passed. Assessment complete."

Ed turned a bit pale as he took the paper back. "I—thank you, sir. You didn't need to do that."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," he dismissed. "I've heard plenty of your accomplishments this year, Fullmetal. That's good enough for me." He relaxed back in his chair, totally at ease, while Ed and Lissa were still floundering. "So, have you come down south to cause a little trouble, then?"

Ed raised his hand quickly, shaking his head. "No, no, nothing like that!"

"Ed and Al's old teacher lives in Dublith," Lissa piped up to save him from scrambling too much. "We just came down to visit. I'd never met her before, either, so I was interested." _There. It's purely a social call, nothing more… No other research…_

"Hm, I see." The Führer looked thoughtful. "Well, if she trained those boys, she must be quite a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps I should recruit her as a state alchemist."

Lissa very nearly laughed at the idea. Izumi, a state alchemist?! She _hated_ the military and state alchemists most especially—Ed only narrowly skirted by with a pass, and that was just because Izumi cared about him before he joined up.

"Oh, no, I don't think that's a good idea," Ed muttered, grinning at the thought.

Bradley raised an eyebrow. "No? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, she…" He bit back a laugh. "It's not really her sort of thing, that's all. She's more of a housewife."

"Ah, that's too bad, then. Well, I don't want to keep you any longer than we have to, so I'll let you head back to Dublith." Bradley smiled widely. "Keep up the good work, you two. I look forward to seeing what else you'll accomplish. Oh, and Cadet Caito?"

Lissa tensed at the mention of her name. "Yes, sir?"

"You turn sixteen this coming year, don't you? So you'll be eligible to take the state alchemy exam yourself at that point."

She nodded slowly, unsure what he was getting at here. "Yes, sir, that's correct."

Bradley laughed a bit. "So formal! Is that what our academies teach nowadays?" He shook his head, more amused than upset, thankfully. "Well, I'll be looking out for your file, Cadet."

What did _that_ mean? Lissa didn't really think she wanted to know—though she was still curious. How did the Führer know when she was turning sixteen? Had he _actually_ been paying attention to her before now? He'd referred to her in Central as the institution's _most promising trainee_ , but she'd really thought it was all just for show, something nice to say. Ed was really the focal point, carrying that title and really making a name for himself. She just…tagged along.

Both a bit shaken, Ed and Lissa managed to say their goodbyes and get the hell out of Southern HQ—and not a second too soon. The moment they stepped out the front doors, Ed doubled over and sneezed, hard, his braid flipping up along his head from the force of it.

Lissa patted his back as he hung there, bent in half, just dangling his arms and recovering. "C'mon, let's get you some tea," she told him gently.

Ed finally straightened up and shook his head, frowning at her. "We need to get back to Dublith."

"Not fighting off a cold you're not," she scolded him. "One night won't make a difference, we already thought it'd take a couple days to get this whole thing dealt with anyway. We'll get the first train out tomorrow, but you need a little time to shake this before you just jump right back onto a train, dummy. Slow down for two seconds, Ed."

He wrapped his arms around himself and sighed. "Yeah, okay," he relented immediately—and that was when Lissa knew he _really_ didn't feel well. "You're probably right."

Smiling gently, she took his arm and guided him onto the pavement. "I think I saw a hotel back near the station. We'll see what they have available and go from there, okay? If anything I'll go poke around myself, I don't want you running yourself ragged."

—

Thankfully the hotel just a couple blocks away from the station had a vacancy—just one, with a queen-sized bed, but that was nothing new. And Lissa was too anxious to get Ed off his feet to even consider going somewhere else. So within an hour, she had him settled on the room's sofa, hands curled around a mug of peppermint tea, wrapped in a blanket and just…resting. For once he'd actually let her fuss over him a bit, which was yet another sign he really didn't feel too great.

What he'd said earlier was true. Ed almost never got sick, not in the three years she'd been around him. Every once in a while they both had the faintest trace of something, but for the most part they'd remained pretty healthy. It had only been a matter of time, of course, though it still was odd to see Edward even slightly under the weather.

"It's gotta be just allergies," he muttered, scowling into his tea.

Lissa just smiled to herself, not wanting to argue with him. He could have it for now, and later on, he'd just have to admit this was a little more than allergies. "We'll see," she agreed softly. She'd taken up the spot beside him, curling her legs underneath her body and working on a design for a new transmutation circle. There wasn't any total rest for them, not with everything they still had to handle, and she always was looking for ways to improve her skills too. Since her particular skillset was pretty rare, there weren't a lot of resources—which meant Lissa had to do a lot of work from scratch.

Ed took a sip of his tea and sighed deeply. "Hey, Liss… Is it cold in here or am I just crazy?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Cold? Ed, we're in the south… There's no such thing as cold down here." Frowning, she set her notebook aside and rested the back of her hand on his forehead for a moment. His skin was hot underneath her hand, his cheeks flushing pink, his eyes a little glassy… "Oh, no," she murmured.

"What?" He pulled back and stared up at her. " _Oh, no_ what?"

"You've got a fever," Lissa told him reluctantly.

Ed groaned and tilted his head back. "You've gotta be kidding me. I don't get sick, I haven't been sick since I was a little kid!"

She sighed and got up from the sofa immediately, not wanting to sit around doing nothing about it. "Until now," she pointed out. "Hopefully it'll pass by tomorrow, but until then, you need to just take it easy, okay? _Please_?"

"But Lissa…"

She rounded on him, setting her hands on her hips and giving him her sharpest look. "Do you wanna try and kick this tonight, or do you wanna get _sicker_?"

Ed pouted at that, but didn't argue any further—so Lissa set about her tasks. She called down to room service first, picking out everything she thought would be most helpful for the situation, all comfort foods, plus more teabags of a couple different kinds. Then she took a couple washcloths from the bathroom and ran them both under the cold tap, squeezing out the excess water before taking them back with her to the sofa, conscious that Ed was watching her the whole time.

Lissa tugged the blanket off him and set it aside for a moment, then fixed him with what she hoped was a stern look. It was difficult to actually order him around when he looked like this, fever-flushed and pale at the same time, his bottom lip jutting out a little, but she did try. "Sit forward, okay?"

He sighed at her, but did as he was told anyway, putting his tea on the table and leaning forward obediently. Lissa slipped behind him and sat on the back of the sofa, perched there with the two damp washcloths sitting on the table to her right. Then she unfastened the clasp of his jacket and slid it off his shoulders, though he complained that he could do it himself, which she set aside atop the blanket. "Just…relax," she told him as she tucked his braid forward over his shoulder.

Lissa waited until he'd stopped squirming, folding up one of the washcloths while he got himself settled—and once he had finally calmed down and relaxed into her legs, she carefully lay the washcloth on the back of his neck.

Ed hissed and flinched forward, but Lissa caught his shoulder and tugged him back into place. "Ugh, what the hell, Liss?" he muttered, tugging halfheartedly against her hold.

"I need to bring your fever down," she told him gently. "Come on, like I'd do anything bad to you when you're sick."

"M'not sick."

"Right, and I'm not brunette," Lissa deadpanned. "Seriously, Ed, what's your problem with being taken care of? There's nothing wrong with it. _I'm_ not sick and I care about you, so I might as well help, don't you think?"

He shifted against her, uncomfortable with something. When his shoulders slumped, she regretted being so flippant about it, when this might actually be…a bigger thing for him. "It's just… Well… Al's only a year younger than me, right? So…when we were little…it was always him getting sick, not me. I hardly ever did. I got so used to looking after him every time, especially once—once Hohenheim left. It didn't feel right to wake mom up in the middle of the night when I could take care of Al myself. And…once she died…" Ed swallowed hard. "I guess I'm just…used to being in your position."

Lissa stroked his hair softly as she listened, aware with a sharp ache in her heart that he was revealing something private to her. "I bet that meant the world to him, you know. Having you look after him. But you know what? I don't think he would've hesitated for a second to do the same thing for you, if you'd gotten sick."

That made him smile, at least. "Yeah. I'm sure you're right. It's just weird being on the other side, that's all… I have this instinct that tells me _I_ need to be doing something other than just sitting here on my ass."

"Well, not right now you don't," she reminded him gently. "Right now, you're going to let _me_ look after you. Okay?"

Ed turned far enough to give her a sweet, soft smile that made her heart stutter in her chest. "Okay, Liss," he agreed quietly. "I'll do my best."

"That's all I ask." Lissa took the cloth off the back of his neck and set it aside, using a little flick of her fingers to transmute the air particles nearby, cooling the air around Ed just enough to make a difference. As she worked, her left hand traced absently to the bottom of Ed's braid, to the hair tie wrapped around there—and after a moment, Lissa mustered up the courage to tug it free of his hair.

"Why'd you do that?" he mumbled, confused.

Lissa was glad he was facing away so he wouldn't see the embarrassed flush of her cheeks. "You're still dressed like you're going to fight someone," she pointed out, her voice mercifully steady. "It's silly." She worked her fingers through his hair, unwinding the braid and smoothing it down, her pulse racing in her chest as she went.

Ed snorted faintly. "So are you."

"I'll change in a minute," she dismissed. When his hair was free, Lissa slid the hair tie onto her wrist and climbed out from behind him, still not quite finished. She pushed Ed back until his head was tilted into the cushion, watching his confused gaze for any signs of discomfort—but he seemed totally fine. That gave her just enough confidence to fold the second cool washcloth, carefully brush his bangs aside, and set that one on his forehead. "Just keep that there for now, okay?" she asked of him.

"If you say so," he agreed, smiling crookedly.

She left him there with the cloth on his forehead, just long enough for her to change into a loose pair of trousers and a big t-shirt, for comfort. Afterwards she brought Ed's casual clothes back with her too, though she didn't want him taking that washcloth off yet. "Leave that on until it gets too warm to be useful," Lissa told him when she returned and passed him his clothes.

Ed nodded faintly, trapped by the cloth. Apparently not concerned about propriety or the fact that she was standing _right there_ , he reached down and fumbled his belt open, shimmying out of his trousers only seconds later, totally unbothered.

 _Well…there's no harm in just…looking, right?_

Lissa busied herself at the table in front of the sofa, clearing away the empty mug and grabbing her notebook… All the while peeking out the corner of her eye. It was…both easier and more painful to be so hyperaware of her feelings towards Ed. On one hand, it hurt _so_ much less to just accept it and allow herself to feel that way, to stop smothering the emotions. But on the other hand…she knew she couldn't _have_ that, couldn't even consider it until after Ed and Al got their bodies back. That _had_ to be the priority. Not a damn thing mattered more than that—and _when_ , not if, they managed to get their bodies back… Only then would she allow herself to imagine it.

Still… She couldn't keep her eyes off him. Lissa was going to have a list like Al's ready for the right moment, if he kept this kind of thing up.

They ate dinner there, once it arrived at the room, just sitting and talking through the evening. Lissa kept up with the cool, damp washcloths as best as she could, but she could see Ed was flagging a bit by the time he'd finished the soup she'd ordered for him—so she convinced him, with a little difficulty, to accept a cup of chamomile tea. It wasn't his favorite thing in the world, she knew, but hopefully it'd help him sleep this off.

"I'm sorry I kept us here tonight," Ed murmured, giving her a sheepish look. So he could eat and sit up properly, she'd switched to cool cloths on the back of his neck for a bit. He still looked flushed, though.

She shook her head at him. "You didn't _keep_ us here, Ed. It's okay, I don't mind—it's like a mini vacation or something." Not exactly…but she didn't want him to feel guilty.

"Eh." He shrugged and gazed down at the mostly-empty mug in his hands. "Still, you're going to all this trouble… I'd be fine just sleeping it off, y'know, you didn't need to do all…this." He spread an arm wide, indicating all the food and teas and supplies she'd been using off and on to try and help him, to prevent him from getting any worse.

"I don't mind doing it," Lissa told him gently, reaching over to touch his knee lightly. "You don't need to sit there feeling all bad about it, I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't want to."

Ed nodded, and stared down at his cup for a moment, thinking. "We…should probably get to sleep soon," he mused, with a quick glance at the clock across the room. "If we're taking the early train in the morning."

Lissa sensed that it was more about him being exhausted—but he didn't want to voice it. So instead of arguing, she just nodded and set about cleaning up, placing the room service tray in the hall to be picked up, clearing away the cups and plates, and just generally trying to leave them less to do in the morning. By the time she was finished, Ed had sort of struggled to his feet and was leaning into the edge of the sofa, head tilted down, hair obscuring his face from view.

"Ed?" Lissa crossed to him and gently rested her hand along his cheek, getting him to look at her. His eyes were still glassy, but with food and liquids, he did seem a bit better. "How are you feeling?"

He shrugged at her. "Dunno. Better, I guess." He wrinkled his nose. "I _hate_ being sick."

She grinned and put the back of her hand against his forehead, checking his temperature for the millionth time that evening. "Well… The good news is, you don't feel nearly as warm as you did earlier. Hopefully that means you'll be fine in the morning."

"Fingers fucking crossed."

Lissa looped her arm around his back and walked him into the bedroom, her heart skipping a beat when she recalled they only had one bed—but Edward was ill, so it was better in the end. She could keep a closer eye on him this way, rather than watching him from across the room. Even if it did make her chest ache with the loss of things she couldn't have.

Once she'd gotten Ed safely in on his side, she crossed back over and hopped up beside him—then she began going through her little nightly routine, having to brush her curls out before bed to avoid her hair being a total rat's nest in the morning.

"Here, Liss…" Gentle hands plucked her hairbrush away, and Lissa's breath caught in her throat as Ed shifted to his knees behind her, holding the brush aloft. "Lemme do that."

She bit the inside of her lip and nodded, not trusting her own voice just yet. If she spoke…she might give everything away.

Ed's touch was feather-light as he lifted her hair from her shoulders, carefully arranging it down her back before he began to work the brush through. She hadn't been able to tell him no—and she didn't want to, honestly—but she still hadn't expected him to be so…gentle. Lissa couldn't remember the last time someone had treated her with such care, treated her like she…like she truly _mattered_ to them, on this level… As he worked, his fingers infinitely gentle against her skin, Lissa's eyes drifted shut as she simply let him do what he wanted, let herself be taken care of for just a few minutes.

When he finished, he crawled across to deposit the brush on her bedside table, and Lissa opened her eyes to see him still kneeling right next to her, his gaze soft and embarrassed. "Thank you," she murmured, reaching out and resting her hands on his knees. "You didn't have to do that… And you're sick, besides…"

"I didn't mind," he assured her quietly. "You're always taking care of me… It's the least I could do." Ed looked down at his knees a moment, at her hands, and then back up at her. Lissa watched him in the dim light, trying to read his thoughts on his face—she could _see_ him wrestling with something internally, could see him biting his lip and scrunching his nose faintly, the way he did when he was trying to make a decision. And she saw the moment when his expression turned resolute, firm. His gaze lifted to hers, his eyes molten gold staring right into her soul…

All the breath rushed from her lungs at once as he leaned forward, his hand reaching for her, resting along the side of her neck, thumb tracing her jawline. Ed moved closer, and closer, until she could see the faint scarring on his skin, the whorls of deeper amber in his eyes, the pink flush to his cheeks that had nothing to do with his fever…

Lissa could only sit there, her heart racing in her chest, knowing what he was doing but utterly powerless to stop him, not when she wanted this, when it was all she could think about…

Suddenly Ed jerked back, eyes wide with shock. "I— _shit_ , Lissa, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking, I just…" He rubbed his left hand over his face and glared down at his lap. "I'm sorry. Just—ignore that, please, I'm completely fucked up right now… I don't…" Ed swallowed hard and clenched his fists tightly. "I don't want to screw this up."

She licked her lips dryly, breathing in shakily, trying to regain some kind of control. If he hadn't pulled back…she wouldn't have stopped him. "It's okay," she managed to tell him, even as he retreated to his side of the bed like she'd slap him or something equally bad. "You won't screw anything up, Ed."

 _Did I just…give him permission?_

But he didn't interpret it that way. "Can we just forget that happened?" he rasped. "Please, Liss. That's not… I shouldn't…" Edward shook his head fiercely and stuffed himself under the blankets. "Just forget it. Please."

Lissa kept her eyes on him, searching, but he wouldn't look at her. "Okay," she agreed quietly. "If that's what you want."

Ed nodded, mumbled a quick _goodnight_ , and turned away from her as if he was going to sleep. Shaken, Lissa mirrored him—but she faced him instead, staring at his back, trying to understand. He hadn't said he didn't want it… He'd said he didn't want to screw things up… And she knew, she _knew_ he'd wanted to…

 _He wanted to kiss me. He was about to—but something stopped him._

Lissa touched two fingers to her chest, where her heart still fluttered like a sparrow in a cage. It was something he didn't think he should do. Yet right now, when was still sick and had so much hanging over him… There wasn't time for her to fix this. Not entirely.

 _But I can make sure he doesn't fall asleep thinking I hate him._

Slowly, as carefully as she could, Lissa slid across the mattress until she was mere inches from Ed's back. From here, she could feel the tremulous wavering in the air from his unsteady breaths, could see the way his shoulders quivered, the distress he was barely holding in… No, she wasn't going to let him fall asleep this way.

Lissa reached out and smoothed her fingers across his left shoulder. He gasped and jolted, flinching like she might hit him—but she'd expected that. She carefully traced her fingertips down his arm, over the back of his hand, and finally dipped between his forearm and his waist, sliding her palm over his middle, encircling him. For a moment she stayed like that, rubbing the softest circles into his abdomen through his shirt, letting him adjust, showing him she wasn't going to lash out. Then she curled him into her, pulled his body back against hers, like puzzle pieces slotting together. "It's okay," she whispered when he shuddered, screwing his eyes shut in some kind of fear. "It's okay, Ed, I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere…"

"Liss… I… I can't…"

"Shh, don't… There's nothing you need to explain to me," she murmured. "Just relax, I've got you, I won't let you go…"

So fast she almost missed it, he shifted and flipped over, suddenly pressing his face into her chest and wrapping both arms around her middle, folding in against her with every part of himself. "I'm so sorry," Ed choked out, his voice muffled by her shirt. "I'm so fucking sorry, Lissa, you shouldn't have to deal with this…"

"Stop beating yourself up," Lissa told him gently. "Just—sleep, Ed, okay? You're sick and you're exhausted, and it's making you read so much into this…" She stroked her fingers up and down his spine, her heart just shattering inside her chest. She had _never_ seen him this unhinged.

"But I-"

"Look at me," she insisted. When he hesitated, she tipped his chin up herself and got him to look right into her eyes. "I _promise_ , you did nothing wrong. Just get some sleep, you'll feel better about it in the morning."

He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing—but then he nodded and relented, burying his face in her shirt and letting out a rough, shuddering breath. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Lissa adjusted so she'd be comfortable to sleep, keeping her arms firmly around him, and rested her chin atop his head. She hardly knew what to do here—yet she was going to try anyway, try to soothe him and put those worries out of his head. Edward already had enough weighing on him… He didn't need anything else.

—

Lissa awoke first the next morning, with Ed still sleeping peacefully twined together with her. She took a moment to just lie there, to let him rest, and tried to make sense of the night before. She only knew a few things for certain, in the wake of it all. She knew Edward had nearly kissed her. She knew he'd experienced some kind of guilt over it—not regret, that came out differently—and panicked about it. And lastly, she wished desperately that he would've gone through with it. No matter how selfish.

Oops.

She sighed and closed her eyes for a heartbeat, wondering. Her priority still needed to be getting Ed and Al's bodies back—but now, for the first time, she had the flickering of hope beginning in her chest. Maybe afterwards… Maybe in a calmer world…

Ed stirred, and Lissa's eyes flicked open again. "Hey," she greeted, smiling at him as he blinked up at her. "How are you feeling?" _Just act normal… Show him everything's all right…_

"Better," he admitted.

Lissa pressed the back of her hand to his forehead, pleased to feel that most of the unnatural warmth had faded. "It feels like your fever's down too. I'd say be careful for a day or two but, well… I know you, and I know what we have waiting for us back in Dublith. So I'll just keep an eye on you instead." She grinned and carefully extricated herself from him, though she ran her fingers through his bangs once on the way just to show him everything was all right. "We're in time for the train, too, so we'll be back in Dublith by lunchtime."

While she got up, Ed sat there watching her for a moment, his gaze troubled. "Liss… I just wanted to-"

"If you say _apologize_ , I'm gonna smack you," she quipped, smirking as she reused the phrase he'd said to her in Resembool. "Look, you know me, Ed. Would I sit here and pretend everything's okay if it wasn't?"

He smiled reluctantly. "No. Not for a second."

" _So_ , clearly, everything's just fine." Lissa rested her palms on the bed and leaned across to him, kissing his nose quickly and making him blush a deep crimson. She knew she was flushed too, her cheeks going pink, but she twisted away and headed for the door before he could catch her. "C'mon, dummy. If we miss the train the next one isn't until after seven tonight."

By the time they got dressed, gathered their things, and left for the train station, Ed seemed much more himself. There was a brightness in his step that made Lissa smile, and gave her hope that they could just…go back to normal. It was all she could think to do, in the wake of what had happened.

What had _almost_ happened.

The ride proved that, though, beyond a doubt. Lissa and Ed spent the entire ride chatting, making fun of each other, generally enjoying themselves without any real strings attached. She adored making him laugh, making him smile, even momentarily easing the weight he carried. Really, when he smiled so wide it showed all his teeth, when it made his eyes sparkle amber and gold…Lissa thought she'd do anything to keep him smiling like that.

"You won't tell Teacher that I was sick, right?" Ed clarified as they stepped out of the station and into the omnipresent heat of Dublith.

Lissa rolled her eyes. "I know better than that, don't worry."

"My, Dublith certainly is a pretty place!"

She choked on her next words and turned, grabbing Ed's arm reflexively, to see the damned _Führer_ walking out of the station and coming to stand just a few feet away. It was startling to realize he'd followed them there—but even more shocking was the _floral-printed shirt_ he wore.

"Please tell me I'm hallucinating that shirt," she hissed to Edward.

"Then I must be hallucinating too," he mumbled, gawking at Bradley.

Behind the Führer, weighed down by several suitcases and looking out of place, Alex came shuffling up like Bradley had gone running off without him.

Ed gaped at them both. "Wha—how—why-"

"What do you mean, _why_?" Bradley asked, grinning. "I'm here to take a crack at recruiting your teacher, Fullmetal. Izumi Curtis, right?"

Lissa felt her own jaw drop too. He'd come…to recruit… _Izumi_?! Oh, this was gonna be a show. It was going to be a complete spectacle and she _absolutely_ wanted to watch. Izumi wouldn't be bothered by his position—she already hated the military—and she seemed completely unflappable to the point of being an absolute terror if she wanted to. Bradley… Even though he was Führer and even though he could be a nightmare if he chose to be… He didn't stand a chance.

"Wait a minute, you were on the same _train_ as us?!" Ed yelped, taking a step back in shock. "How the hell did we not see you?!"

Alex scoffed at him and folded his arms. "It's very easy to hide from children. My stealth technique has been passed down in the Armstrong family for generations—it would be impossible for two _teenagers_ to detect me."

Lissa wrinkled her nose at him. She didn't like being out of the loop.

Ed growled under his breath and grabbed Lissa's hand. "C'mon, Liss. We'll take the shortcut." He stomped away, ignoring Bradley waving cheerily—he was in street clothes, after all, so military propriety could be fudged—and pulled her down an alley she recognized easily by now.

"We should probably warn Ms. Izumi," she observed as she kept pace with him.

He nodded reluctantly. "Yeah. Oh, man, she's gonna be so pissed I brought the damn Führer into her shop."

Lissa grimaced, imagining Izumi's impending wrath at the discovery. "Shit. Um… Yeah, you're kind of screwed. Sorry, Ed." She squeezed his hand and tugged him a bit closer. "I'll distract her while you run?"

That got him to laugh, loosening up a bit. "Nah, I'll handle it. She's too fast to run from anyway."

As they approached the storefront, where Izumi and Sig would be during the day—and Al, for that matter—Lissa began to feel that…buzzing around her ears and neck. It was common in crowded places, but when she'd been here before it hadn't been so present, and the way it crept up every step they took was enough to make her pause right there in the street.

"Liss?" Ed jerked to a halt, caught on her hand, and turned to her worriedly. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I'm…sensing something," she admitted. "It's weird… Can you just…keep an eye out while I try and figure out what the hell this is?"

He nodded without hesitation. "Of course."

Lissa sighed and focused inward, letting that sensation build, grow, until it filled out into a full-blown reading. Immediately she was flooded with that horrific _wriggling_ , writhing sense she'd felt in the Fifth Laboratory. "Ed," she breathed, suddenly petrified. "This is…what I felt below the Fifth Laboratory."

"What?!" Ed grabbed both her hands and pulled her towards him, his eyes narrowed and serious. "Are you completely sure? The exact same thing?"

She nodded weakly. "Yeah… The same as what I got from those two creatures with the ouroboros tattoos. Something _bad_ is going on here, I know it. I've never felt this anywhere else and it's really distinct."

"Shit. Okay, we need to get Teacher involved, I know you don't like telling people about your ability but we _need_ her help, Liss." Edward took her shoulders and gave her a very fierce look. "I won't let anything happen to you, okay? I promise. Besides, she's like me, she's seen the Truth… It makes you a little more accepting."

Lissa hated it, but she knew he was right. Izumi would be an enormous help if they had to face one of those creatures. "I trust you," she murmured.

They left the alleyway behind and raced straight to the shop, Lissa smothering her senses back down as that same awful one became more and more prevalent—only to skid to a halt in the doorway, finding the shop _much_ fuller than it usually was.

"They _beat_ us here?!" Ed groaned, peering past Alex's bulk to see the Führer at the desk, talking to a very obstinate Sig. "Ugh, screw this. Let's go around back."

Lissa caught his wrist, though. "No, we can get past Alex, he'll let us through. We don't wanna waste time going the whole way around the block, Ed."

He grimaced but nodded. "Fine. You lead the way then."

She slid her fingers between his and tugged him forward, under Alex's arm and around him, bypassing the desk quickly and finally stepping into the back room. And by some crazy stroke of luck, Izumi was there, looking more than a bit frustrated and through with the situation.

"You're back," she observed, seeming a bit surprised. "I thought you said it would take a few days." Before they could launch into anything, though, Izumi held up a hand. "Never mind that. I'm glad you're here—I'm afraid we have a bit of a…situation." She scowled, seeming a bit…unsettled somehow. "Alphonse has been kidnapped."

Ed reared back in shock. "Al's been _what_?!" he yelped. " _Kidnapped_?! How—how the hell could he get kidnapped, he's a freaking giant suit of armor!"

Izumi sighed wearily, shaking her head in a kind of exasperation. "It's complicated."

"What do they want for him?" Lissa pressed, fearful. Alphonse… He was still just a _kid_ , being abducted could be terrifying to him… And they'd left him alone here, dammit, he should've come with them and it never would've happened! "Is it for ransom or something?" There had to be a motive… Al couldn't have been easy to take down, after all.

But Izumi shook her head. "Nothing like that, no. They're demanding information on transmuting a soul in exchange for Al's release. They specifically want _you_ to come down there, Ed."

He looked utterly disgusted at the idea, the fact that this was all about how he'd transmuted his brother's soul. "Who the hell would want information on _that_?" he asked, repulsed.

"He's a creature who goes by the name of Greed," Izumi told them. She pointed at the back of her hand, drawing attention to the fact that her right was bandaged up pretty intensely. "With an ouroboros tattoo on his left hand. He called himself a homunculus."

 _A homunculus?!_

"But…that's not supposed to be possible," Lissa breathed, feeling horrifically unsettled. "Homunculi only exist in theory, but to actually create one…"

"He certainly wasn't human," Izumi told her bluntly, displaying her injured hand and shrugging. "He has some sort of skin-shifting ability to protect himself. What a coward. But absolutely not human, not any kind of human I've ever encountered. His followers were chimeras as well, fully-functional, but they were different than him."

Ed's expression darkened, his face turning harsh, a scowl contorting his features. "So this man—this _Greed_ —he hurt you, Teacher?"

Izumi lifted an eyebrow. "This is nothing. I let my guard down, that's all."

Lissa felt a wave of nausea roll over her. A creature who could get the best of _Izumi_ … Supposedly a homunculus, a damned _homunculus_ , with an ouroboros tattoo… Did that mean the creatures she and Ed encountered at Laboratory Five were supposed to be homunculi too?! What the hell was going on here? And why did one want to know how Ed bound Al's soul to that suit of armor? It was a puzzle without all the pieces, too sparse to see the final picture yet, and Lissa hated it. She hated feeling this lost.

"Okay," Ed murmured, giving a slow, decisive nod. "I'll go to this—this _Greed's_ place and talk to him, then. Alone."

Lissa's heart sank.

"Alone?!" Izumi thundered. "You think I'll let you go into that dangerous place on your own?! Just how stupid are you!?"

Ed lifted his hands quickly and shook his head. "It's not a big deal, Teacher! Look, they just want information, right? That means it's a simple trade. My info for Al. I'll be _fine_." He shot Lissa a smile like he knew she was panicking inside. "This is mine and Al's mess—I won't drag anyone else into it, not this directly. S'not like I'm gonna get killed just trading for information or something."

Izumi glowered at him and threw up her hands. "Fine. Do whatever you want." She narrowed her eyes. "Just be back for dinner, understand?"

"You got it." Ed took Lissa's hands and squeezed down, giving her a sweet, encouraging smile. "I'll be okay, Liss. And I'll bring Al back too, don't worry—I can handle this one." She knew the subtext—that she'd taken care of him the night before, so he was going to keep her safe now in return.

Stupid! What a damned _idiot_ she'd lost her heart to!

"Just…" Lissa groaned and pulled him in for a hug. "Come back safe, please? You and Alphonse."

Edward raised onto his toes just a bit to kiss her forehead. "Promise." He stepped away then, and Izumi gave him a slip of paper telling him where to go—and with that he was gone, bounding out the door and striding confidently away from the shop.

Lissa wrapped her arms around herself and stared after him, even once he'd disappeared. "I'm not sure I-"

"Let me give you some advice," Izumi interrupted, eyeing Lissa severely. "When someone you care about, really truly care about with all your heart, goes off on an idiotic mission and tells you to remain behind… Do you actually stay?"

She tightened her fingers on her own jacket. "I—but he…"

"When you really care for someone, you recognize _why_ they want to handle something on their own." Izumi glared pointedly at the door. "You also recognize when they're being an _idiot_ and completely reckless to go off by themselves and deny assistance, all for a stupid desire to be a hero. In such a situation…" She swung her head around to Lissa so fast it almost gave her whiplash by association. "You ignore their ridiculous notion that they have to handle everything alone, wait long enough that they _believe_ you've listened—and then go after them. Or have I misread your intentions with my ex-pupil?"

 _She knows,_ Lissa realized with a fearful jolt. Then-

 _She wants me to go after him!_

Had…had Izumi really disliked her? Or was she just…reserving judgment, trying to feel out Lissa's own emotions towards Ed? Maybe she'd only been assessing if Lissa was _worthy_ of Edward. But if that were the case…then this…this was her own version of giving her approval.

Lissa disentangled her fingers from her jacket and gave a firm nod. "You're right, Ms. Izumi. About all of it. Thank you." She felt one corner of her mouth curl up at the strange relief of somebody knowing what was in her heart, though she never would've wanted to say the words herself. "In a situation like that… With someone I really do care about, heart and soul… How long should I wait?"

"Hm." Izumi tapped her foot on the floor thoughtfully. "Fifteen minutes sounds about right to me."

"Fifteen minutes. I can do that."


	21. Bitter Victories

Should I have said that I did NOT invent Wrath wearing a Hawaiian shirt in the last chapter? Because that happens in the manga. And it's as ridiculous as it sounds. Anywayyy, I feel like this was a long time for me between updates, but the holidays are not super great for me, so I will do my best to stay current through the next few weeks. Dublith ends on a rough note overall, though I tried to sprinkle some hope - and next we meet the Xingese! So I'll be working hard to steamroll right into that. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the closing-out of the very long sojourn that is Dublith!

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Lissa set out from the shop, her hair drawn back in a ponytail, gloves in place, nothing but her mind and her alchemy to aid her, and followed Izumi's directions to a seedy part of town and a bar named the Devil's Nest. A fitting name, it seemed.

As she turned onto what was supposed to be the correct road, if she'd followed her directions right, someone stepped into her path—a larger man, muscular and looking thrilled to have found her. "Well hey, little girly," he began in a smarmy tone. "What brings you to this part of town? And all on your own. Take a wrong turn or something?"

Lissa raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "I don't believe so, no." She pointed ahead, to an open stone archway leading down a flight of stairs—and the sign hanging above, unreadable from her angle. "Is that the Devil's Nest?"

He glanced sideways, and one of his compatriots stepped out into the roadway too. "Why's a little girly like you wanna know that?"

She twitched her fingers at her sides, just faintly, getting a feel for what was in the air. Before she'd gone, Lissa had added a couple circles, inked in pen underneath her gloves—and her secret one on her abdomen too. She could transmute the ground if she wanted now, among other things. She wasn't afraid of this weirdo. "Not that it's your business, but I'm looking for someone called Greed. He's got a tattoo of an ouroboros on his left hand, if that helps."

The man quirked a grin. "You're not the only one. But Greed's in a, uh, a private meeting, see. So unfortunately you gotta scram, kid. Unless you want us to _make_ you."

Lissa rolled her eyes, through with his stupid machismo act. "Oh, please. I've been sparring with someone twice your size since I was _seven_. Look, either point me in the direction of Greed or I'll lay you all flat, understand me?"

That only made him laugh at her, though. "Cute. Now, go home, kid. Before we make mincemeat outta your face."

It was all the opening she needed—the one last useless threat that bought her enough time to find the currents of air around her, all the particles in her path, and part them. She slipped effortlessly through the space between her and this idiot, the air crackling blue around her from the transmutation, and rammed her elbow directly into his solar plexus.

He was knocked backwards by the impact—size differences could be mitigated with enough force, after all, and she'd been moving unimpeded—and fell straight on his back, stunned. The other guy snarled and leapt for Lissa, but she transmuted again, feeling the disruptions around him as he moved, and dodged—then planted her foot at the center of his back in a firm _kick_ that knocked him flat on his face.

"So!" she announced loudly, spinning to face the few other guys lurking nearby. "Are you gonna tell me where the fuck I find Greed, or do you need another demonstration?" Just as a threat, Lissa curled her fingers and shifted the air around her right hand, making it crackle and spark with alchemical energy.

"Downstairs and to the left, take two rights, biggest door you run into," one of the others called.

Lissa grinned. "Thank you very much!" She ducked past one of the lurkers and jogged down the stairs, taking the moment of respite to half-open her senses. She could feel that same worms-in-the-dirt writhing sensation here, almost as strongly as before, which meant if she didn't keep a lid on her ability she'd be rendered mostly useless. Thankfully her control was pretty reliable at this point. In addition to that horrible feeling, she got bursts of blood, a thick deluge of iron-copper that reminded her of the Philosopher's Stone, oddly enough; the salty tang of fear; and amber, warm and familiar.

 _Amber is Ed,_ she realized, almost tripping at the foot of the stairs. _Amber and the sun shining through crystalline water, the clear expanse of the night sky…_

She shook herself. This was _so_ not the time to get deep into that.

Lissa followed the guy's directions, hoping he hadn't led her into some kind of trap—but when she took her second right turn, into yet another concrete-walled hallway, she began to hear fighting from the other end and knew she'd been led correctly. Most likely they still figured Greed could take her. And maybe he could, since he'd injured Izumi like that… But her and Ed together? That was a whole other story.

The closer she got, the more she could hear—Ed shouted a lot when he was fighting, and this was no exception. She could hear the stress, the pain in his voice… But he was also inadvertently giving her _masses_ of information. From what she heard, this Greed homunculus had something he called an Ultimate Shield that protected him from most attacks. _Most_ attacks. Just as she was approaching the door—it had to be the right door, both from the noises filtering out and the sheer size of it—Lissa heard Ed give her exactly the tools she needed.

Greed's Ultimate Shield was made of carbon. Which meant it could be transmuted, affected… And when broken, it would release _plenty_ of particles into the air for her to make use of.

"I'm glad to hear it!" Greed almost cackled. "It's no fun if it's not a _challenge_!" he roared, with the scuffle-thump sound of a continuing attack.

"And there's one other important thing I noticed!" Ed snarled furiously. She could hear the crackling of a transmutation as he spoke, only urging her to move faster. "You can't harden your shield and heal at the same time!"

Lissa shouldered past the door and planted herself in the room, arms at the ready. Her appearance startled both Edward and Greed out of their battle, giving her a split second to take stock of the situation—Ed was in bad shape, both his old cut on his forehead from Laboratory Five _and_ a new one on the left side of his face bleeding profusely, his face caked in red. The right side of his shirt and jacket were soaked in blood too, from some kind of injury he'd sustained during the fight. She knew all the signs, the warnings to look for in him, and he was ticking almost every box. Ed was _finished_. He was absolutely on his last legs in this fight.

 _Fifteen minutes, Izumi? Next time I'll wait ten._

Greed was…kind of horrifying. Izumi's brief description had him as a pretty normal-looking man, save the Ultimate Shield claws on his hands and wrists…but this version of him seemed covered in the carbon armor. His face was inhuman, bared teeth and fangs, smooth atop his head, with eerie black and purple eyes.

"Ugh, come on, really?" Greed bemoaned, looking at her in some kind of exasperation. "Another kid? And a _girl_. Seriously, I don't fight women, especially not little girls. Get lost, kid."

Lissa narrowed her eyes at him. "You think I'm weak?" she hissed. "You think I'm a shit opponent because I'm a _girl_?! You damned sexist pig! First you about broke Ms. Izumi's hand, which was bad enough. But then you had to go and to _this_ to Ed?! What the hell is wrong with you homunculi? That's what you are, right? You and the other freaks with the ouroboros tattoos! You're all fucking _cowards_!"

Greed just scoffed at her. "Your girlfriend's got a mouth on her," he muttered to Ed.

She gritted her teeth, rage just burning and burning away in her chest. Lissa didn't take kindly to anyone who hurt Ed this way—and on top of that, this asshole was a damn _sexist_ who wouldn't fight women?! He'd certainly done something to Izumi! "I didn't come all the way down here to be insulted and ignored," Lissa snarled. "Carbon, right, Ed? Okay. I can work with carbon."

Lissa shot forward, a blur of shimmering blue transmutation energy, and rammed her foot into Greed's side. She didn't expect it to hurt him—that wasn't her intention. But it did spin him, just enough for her to press a hand on his back and reach down, down into the carbon of his armor. She found the individual atoms and transmuted them, at the most basic level of their existence, shoving the molecules apart with all her might.

The Ultimate Shield cracked and deconstructed beneath her palm, leaving a sizeable hole at his back. Ed was on him in a heartbeat, transmuting spikes on the knuckles of his battered automail and slamming his fist into the exposed area.

"I thought you were staying behind," Ed mumbled out the side of his mouth, giving her a slightly irate look.

Lissa rolled her eyes. "What, and miss out on all the fun?" She cut in front of him as he went in for another attack, watching Greed's eyes follow as the homunculus regenerated. Fine. She'd give him time to do that if she had to. "You stay put," she hissed, reaching out and pushing Ed's automail arm down. "You're way too injured."

"And you don't have the right transmutation circles to make a weapon!" he shot back under his breath.

She turned back to him just long enough to smirk. "No?" Lissa rolled forward, transmuting on the fly, air currents cascading over her fingers and forearms. She altered the resistance as she moved, and at the same time sought out the particles of metal and carbon in the air. It wasn't much, but on the way she spied a broken-off piece of Ed's automail and got an idea.

Lissa snatched the piece and transmuted it _with_ the carbon in the air, bonding what she yanked from around her with the carbon already existent in the metal, and formed it as she sprinted back _behind_ Greed again.

"Hey! Stop movin' around like that!" he complained.

She sprang off her hand and flipped over his head, landing behind him again as he turned. "What, is this little girl too fast for you?" Lissa sneered. When Greed rounded on her, angry now, she transmuted the air around her and ducked under his guard, slamming the palm of her right hand flat on the underside of his neck and part of his face. A quick burst of transmutation energy and she'd deconstructed part of his shield again—this this time she was ready.

Lissa swung her left arm up, channeling a move Alex had taught her long ago. Her fist, unprotected before, now had steel and carbon molded around her glove, forming two wicked-sharp spikes atop her knuckles, with protection down along her fingers and the back of her hand. A hastily-transmuted weapon, but an effective one. She silently thanked Alex for his instruction as her left fist hit home, spikes jamming through his neck and into his mouth. He coughed and spat blood as he jerked away, and Lissa danced backwards, shaking blood from her fist and glaring at him.

Ignoring her insistence from before, Ed stepped up beside her and mirrored her fighting stance as she moved into it, clearly intending to back her up regardless. She half-respected and half-hated it… But either way the fact that he was _so_ determined to fight at her side was a sweet sentiment.

Greed eyed them a moment—and then began to _laugh_. "Hah! This is incredible!" he crowed. "Look at you two, teaming up on me. What a cute couple. Though, to be honest, I'm not particularly interested in fighting this battle…" He shifted his weight back, preparing for…something. "I'll just be on my way now."

"What?!" Ed stood up normally, baffled.

Lissa glared at him as he turned and ran. "I knew you were a damn coward!" She was ready to go after him—but suddenly the room was flooded with soldiers, shouting about _securing the children_. Someone grabbed Ed around the middle and began pulling him away, and another caught Lissa, all of it too quick for either of them to really fight. Not without literally _attacking_ Amestrian soldiers, and even Lissa didn't have the guts for that.

"Wait!" Ed shouted, trying to pull free of the soldier trying to _'protect'_ him. "My brother's out there still! We have to find him!"

"We have orders to get you and Cadet Caito somewhere safe, Fullmetal Alchemist!" the soldier told Ed fiercely. "There's no time, sir!"

"No!" Ed yanked even harder. "Al! _Alphonse_! I have to find him!"

Lissa glanced back at her semi-captor—everyone's attention was on Ed, on his frantic attempts to free himself, as though they felt their orders to drag them out of this place were more important than, well, anything else, and he was threatening their ability to carry them out. So what would make this so damn vital?

 _Führer Bradley,_ she realized, going a bit limp. He'd been at Izumi's shop earlier, which meant he was at least nearby… And he might've heard her and Ed speaking with Izumi. He could've heard about Al being taken hostage and mobilized these soldiers!

"Woah! Are you gonna pass out or something?" the soldier behind Lissa asked, hoisting her like she'd lost her footing. She glanced around, almost angry—but then realized one very important fact. Just like with Greed, underestimating her just because she happened to be female was a serious misstep. Lissa had been fighting around guys her entire life, kicking their asses and taking hits without regard to her gender or size or age. Those homunculi—as she now believed them to be—underneath the Fifth Laboratory hadn't cared that she was a girl. One of them had been ostensibly female herself. They'd come at her just the same as Ed.

But people like Greed… And this soldier… They put her on a lower pedestal just because she happened to be a _girl_. And while it made her angry, seething, bitterly angry—it was also an opportunity to be seized.

Lissa let all the strength go out of her legs and fluttered her eyes, giving a weak, airy sigh as she swooned right out of the soldier's arms. There was a brief flurry of activity, where they tried to lift her up and then decided it was better to lay her down for a moment, chattering about how she was probably overwhelmed and she'd wake up soon.

She shot upward with a burst of alchemy, darting between soldiers quicker than they could grab her. Lissa flashed a grin over her shoulder at Ed as she took off sprinting, chasing after where Greed had headed. Behind her, the soldiers shouted and clamored, stunned, but it was too late.

It was a victory. A bitter one, achieved by exploiting those idiots' lack of faith in her own gender… But a victory nonetheless.

And now Lissa could go find Alphonse.

She tuned into her extra senses a bit more as she ran, seeking that familiar parchment-and-ink feeling of comfort that indicated Al's soul—but also searching out the writhing sensation she now associated with homunculi. It was gross and unnatural, but distinct enough to separate out of anything else she might sense down in these tunnels.

Lissa slowed and let the transmutation fade as the tunnel lowered and darkened, not wanting to give herself away. With her senses open like this, darkness wasn't so insurmountable as it might be otherwise—she could feel out whatever was around her without physically _seeing_ it.

A few steps in, she began to feel that particular sense she got only from Al's soul, so Lissa followed it, allowing the darkness to close in even more around her as she walked further in. It smelled…like a sewer, which was gross but not exactly unexpected. The sewers would be a great back door and escape route for Greed and his cronies to use without being detected. Not to mention it'd have plenty of openings throughout Dublith for them to move about unnoticed, when they wanted to. And somebody like Greed… He'd have to do just that.

"Cadet Caito?"

Lissa jolted to a stop, her senses jamming up with the faintest nudge of Al's soul, very close now—and the chilling sense of a homunculus, writhing like worms under her skin. It made her sick. She squinted ahead in the dim light, trying to see… Only to rear back in shock when she recognized the figure kneeling over Al's prone body. "F-Führer Bradley!" she stammered, suddenly overwhelmed with panic. "What—sir, what happened? Is Al okay?"

He rose to his full height and gave her a curious look. "I'm not quite sure. I admit, I'm a bit…baffled here, Cadet. I don't suppose you can shed any light on why Alphonse Elric is, in fact, a hollow suit of armor?"

She felt cold all over. He knew. _He knew._ "It's…not my place," Lissa deflected, unwilling to give up the boys' secrets herself. She summoned up her courage, reminding herself that she'd fought a damned homunculus earlier, and crossed to kneel beside Al's body. "I'm sorry, sir." Worried beyond belief for the poor boy, she traced her fingers over the armor, feeling for anything, a sign he was there… In three years, Lissa had _never_ seen Al anything but conscious and alert. This was terrifying.

 _There!_ Just faintly, she could feel the thrum of his soul, parchment and ink, a fireplace crackling in wintertime… Warm and gentle. So he was still attached to the armor, just…absent, somehow.

"I'm afraid he might have suffered quite a shock," Bradley continued, oblivious to what she was doing. "It seems one of these creatures—chimeras, as I understand it—had taken refuge inside him. She attacked me, using Alphonse as a weapon, and I dealt with her. It wasn't the cleanest method, but it had to be done." Belatedly, Lissa realized the Führer was in combat gear, with scabbards crisscrossing his back and blood staining his forearms. He'd been down here _fighting_ , apparently. Then… What had happened to Greed? To his chimeras? And…why had one of them been inside Al?

Once again, Lissa had too many puzzle pieces without any clear way to fit them together.

"Ah, Major Armstrong. Can you assist me with this?"

Lissa turned to see Alex had come up behind her, looking deeply troubled, battered from a fight… She felt a twist of worry in her stomach, but her primary focus was Al. He still hadn't come back to himself.

Between Alex and Führer Bradley, they managed to carry Al's nonresponsive body further back into Greed's lair, where there was sufficient light and soldiers still about, clearing rooms and checking for any other exits. Lissa didn't think they'd find anything else. She didn't sense hardly anything in this building. Not anymore. It was as if all the life had been sucked out.

She sank down beside Al and smoothed her fingers over his chestplate, unable to tear her gaze from his empty, lifeless eyes. Even though he was really just a hollow suit of armor all the time, she never really _saw_ him that way… He was just…just Al to her, a friend, someone like family, like a little brother… And even though the armor was hollow, his soul and the brightness of his spirit seemed to fill it out somehow. He never felt empty to her.

Not until now.

Lissa bowed her head and rested it against the cool metal, her throat burning as she held back tears. _Alphonse… Come back… Please, come back…_

A heavy hand rested on her shoulder. "Lissa. The Führer has informed me of Alphonse's… Of what he still carries inside him. I believe it would be best to remove her before he wakes, or he might suffer another shock."

Remove…the chimera, from inside him.

"Yes," she agreed softly, sitting back on her heels. "I think that's the right thing to do." Lissa searched around the hall, looking for a soldier who seemed…appropriately pliable. She found her target in a younger soldier standing at such an angle that he could keep shooting glances at Bradley, who was busy discussing something with a couple higher-ranked soldiers, his own personal guards.

She pointed at the soldier to get his attention. "Excuse me. You."

He gave her a startled look. "Er—yes, Cadet Caito?"

"I need you to find the Fullmetal Alchemist for me, and bring him here." Lissa kept her tone stern, no space for argument—channeling Izumi, she thought.

The young soldier gave her an anxious look. "B-but I… We're not really supposed to…"

Lissa folded her arms over her chest and stood up, jutting her chin out. She'd fought a homunculus. She could convince one twenty-something soldier to do what she wanted. "It wasn't a question, soldier. His brother is here, and he needs to be as well. Unless _you'd_ like to explain to him personally why he wasn't taken to his brother immediately?"

His eyes shot wide as the threat worked—maybe a bit _too_ well. He even saluted her before scampering away down the hall.

Lissa didn't rest on her laurels. She turned back to Al's armor, which Alex was currently trying to figure out exactly how to undo. "You've got to unhook the epaulets first," Lissa explained, sliding her fingers under the worn leather and unhooking the first of the two. "Otherwise the chestplate won't detach. I've seen Ed do this enough to know how to handle it, Alex—I can do this part."

Thankfully, he trusted her enough not to argue, and merely sat back to let her work.

Though it pained her to physically take Al apart like this, Lissa thought of his reaction if he awoke with a—a dead chimera girl _inside_ him, and that was enough to spur her on. She unhooked his second epaulet, letting the strap drop from her fingers, before moving to the side buckles as well. All of it was familiar enough that she didn't fumble it, not even once, and it wasn't long before she'd lifted the entire chestplate away to reveal…

Lissa shut her eyes a moment. That was _horrible_.

She carefully set the chestplate on his left, leaning it against the wall, while Alex and a couple other soldiers began the arduous task of removing the corpse from within his armor.

"Lissa! Al!"

Her instincts kicked in as Ed came racing down the hall, displacing air as he sprinted—and she darted forward, transmuted herself into his path, and caught him around the middle with her arm. "Wait a second," she cautioned him softly, digging her heels in and refusing to let him go any further. She could see someone had bandaged him up, looked after him, which was comforting… But only slightly. It did nothing to soothe her fears about Alphonse. "It's…not great, Ed… Al's not conscious right now."

"Not _conscious_?!" He grabbed at her jacket in a moment of panic, staring down at his brother's motionless armor. "But he's…he _can't_ …"

His whole body jolted when the soldiers pulled the chimera girl's body out, his breath catching in his throat. "That's… She's the one who was sitting inside Al the whole time, wasn't she?" he whispered, mostly to himself. "But what happened to her? How did she…"

Lissa inclined her head ever so slightly towards Führer Bradley.

Ed's jaw clenched. A muscle spasmed beneath his skin.

"Come on," she murmured, releasing him and finally letting him stumble his way over towards his brother. "He's still in there, I know it, but he just…isn't…here…"

He sank to his knees in front of Al, heedless of the blood, and grabbed onto his shoulders for a moment. "Al? Al, come on…" Ed's voice cracked. " _Please_ , Al… Wake up…" His voice rose, desperation increasing the longer his brother stayed away, something that just hadn't happened before, not once. "Al! Say something! Al! _Alphonse_!"

With a gasp, Al's eyes lit up reddish-white, his armor coming alive again as he returned with a rush of warmth straight to Lissa's senses.

"Brother?" he murmured, looking at Ed in confusion.

Ed reached up a bit shakily and touched his shoulder lightly. "You okay?"

But Al had other concerns, thinking of everyone but himself of course. "Are _you_ okay?" he asked anxiously. "You're covered in blood."

Ed's shoulders slumped, his expression crumpling, misery seeping in through the cracks. He averted his gaze, unable to keep his eyes from straying towards the chimera's body, now covered with a tarp—and as Al became aware of the situation, his open chestplate, the blood stained all inside him, down the cloth he wore around his waist, soaking into Ed's trousers…he too crumpled, overcome.

Alex crossed and knelt beside him. "We thought it best to open you and remove her before you awoke," he explained gently. "Lissa ensured you were taken care of."

Al choked out a sob, a weak sound, and pressed his face into his hands. "I couldn't save her…"

Lissa crouched down next to Ed and touched Al's leg just softly, even knowing he couldn't feel it… Her heart was just breaking, seeing him so distressed, so upset he _sobbed_ when his body couldn't even cry…

"You can't blame yourself, Al," Ed told him softly. Then he forced a smile, all for his brother's benefit, and suggested, "C'mon, let's go home. 'Kay?"

But Al didn't budge. Edward murmured his name, worried—and though Alphonse lifted his head, he still couldn't seem to speak. Lissa didn't blame him. She felt shocked to her core, completely overwhelmed, and she hadn't even witnessed it… She couldn't imagine how awful it must have felt to go through that…

"Hold it, you three."

Lissa turned, her hand still resting on Al's leg, to see Bradley striding towards them with his arms crossed behind his back. What the hell did he want now?

"There are a few questions I need to ask the three of you before you can leave," he intoned, coming to stand above them. Out of a sense of respect and duty, Alex moved out of the way—but that left Lissa, Ed, and Al completely exposed to Bradley's wrath. Not that she could fault him for it. "Have you had any previous dealings with the man who referred to himself as Greed?" the Führer began, going right to the point.

Ed rose to his feet and faced him down, defiant. "'Course not."

"Did you happen to trade any manner of information with him?"

Lissa stood beside Ed, wary, her hackles raising at this line of questioning. She didn't like where it was going. "We traded attacks, but not information," she told him truthfully.

"The military wasn't even mentioned, not once," Ed added on, speaking from his experiences before Lissa arrived—not that anyone really _knew_ how long she'd been there, she noted. That would be best kept to herself.

Yet the Führer shook his head. "That isn't my concern. Let me be more specific." His voice darkened, rumbling in his larynx. "If you arranged a deal or shared any knowledge whatsoever with him…then I'll execute all three of you, right now."

Lissa only barely managed to keep from flinching. Execute them?!

All around, the soldiers she didn't know, the ones who had flooded the building, raised their weapons like they'd been given an order and pointed them straight at Ed and Lissa, the easiest to take out and the ones who weren't semi-disabled at the moment. The threat was clear—these men would carry out that execution order without hesitation.

Out of sight of the Führer, Lissa felt Ed's hand press into her lower back, the only sign he'd reacted at all.

"I'll ask again. Did you share any knowledge that might affect the military?"

Ed faced Bradley as though he weren't afraid. "No," he told him firmly, the same answer as before. "Can we go now?"

Yet the Führer's eye narrowed. "I am curious about your steel arm and leg, and your brother's armor body… Cadet Caito seemed to think it wasn't her place to explain your situation, so it did make me wonder… Is there any connection between the two?"

Lissa's throat went dry. Ed recoiled beside her, Al's helmet clinked as he jolted too—and the damage was already done.

But Edward somehow found it in himself to stare the Führer down, even looking as unsettled as he did, battered too, still bleeding sluggishly… He narrowed his eyes and turned defiant again, shoulders square, refusing to back down.

Somehow, impossible, the Führer _smiled_. "You really are an honest kid."

He turned then and paced away as thought the whole thing had never happened. "All right, men. Pull out," he ordered. It seemed as though he was finished, finally releasing them… But then he called back one last parting shot. "And you make sure to take good care of your younger brother, Edward."

As he strode away, Lissa realized with a sick stab of horror, that the writhing sense of a homunculus hadn't faded until Bradley left. But then…what did _that_ mean?

—

"Is that it?" Lissa asked Ed softly, surveying the assortment of clothes lying in front of her. She'd collected everything they'd worn that day—including the cloth Al wore around his waist—because by the time they returned to Izumi and Sig's house, the bloodstains had set in and she didn't think any amount of scrubbing would get that out. So it fell to her, then.

Ed nodded a bit dejectedly. "Yeah. That's everything." He sat beside her, seeming overwhelmed by his task as well. He'd taken it upon himself to clean Al's armor, which meant scrubbing every bit of blood not just from his chest plate but inside Al as well, where some of the worst was.

Lissa thought it was sort of…breaking their spirits, somehow. It was an awful thought.

Alex had refused to leave them alone since the events in the Devil's Nest, apparently feeling protective—he'd begged out of his duties to Führer Bradley and accompanied them back to the house, and now stood nearby, sort of hovering over Edward, what she knew to be his preferred form of silent comfort. She appreciated his presence, and she knew the boys did too, even if they wouldn't voice it. Sometimes it was nice to have somebody looking after you.

"Okay… I'll test it on my shirt first, just in case, since I've got extra fabric for that lying around." Lissa touched her fingertips together thoughtfully, missing her gloves a bit, and then pressed her hands against the stained fabric. This was Greed's blood, she knew, and it disgusted her to think that. The sooner it was gone the better.

She closed her eyes as her hands crackled with blue energy, focusing on the tiniest molecules within the shirt—separating out cotton from iron and the foreign particles that accompanied blood. Anything that didn't belong she harnessed for her transmutation, deconstructing the molecules and freeing them from what did belong, the fabric and stitching in the shirt. Slowly she opened her eyes and watched, keeping the transmutation firmly in check as the blood fell away, split into its separate parts.

"There. Works like a charm." Lissa dusted her hands off and picked up Al's little drape, the piece he was so fond of. "I'll fix this for you next, okay, Al? I just didn't want to experiment on it, that's all."

"It's okay, Lissa," he told her softly. "You don't have to rush."

She looked up at him, worried still—he'd sat down on the steps leading into the house and hadn't moved almost at all since they'd gotten back. "It's important to you, so it's important to me," she explained, gently as she could. "Nobody's rushing me."

It took several minutes, but eventually Lissa got the blood cleaned out of everything. She was glad to be useful in something at this point, because since they'd come out of the Devil's Nest, she had felt…painfully useless. The boys had stuck close to each other, not really talking but still having some kind of understanding between them, while she was still recovering from something she _couldn't_ explain, that nobody could empathize with or understand. Those feelings… That extrasensory ability of hers… Lissa felt the divide it carved between her and everyone else so acutely then that it made her whole _being_ ache with the separation.

"Oh, Major…" Ed scrubbed his cloth over Al's chestplate, not looking up from his task. "There's something I forgot to mention earlier." Between the Devil's Nest and the house, they'd all filled Alex in on what had transpired there—they trusted him, after all. "Greed had an ouroboros tattoo."

Alex looked down at him in confusion. "I'm not sure I follow," he admitted.

Ed turned to face him, finally pausing in his work. "Think back. The Fifth Laboratory? The Philosopher's Stone? Remember, the guys who attacked me and Lissa—the ones we told you and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes about?"

Lissa's interest piqued as Alex stiffened. "Colonel Hughes? I…" He cut himself off sharply, bowing his head, visibly struggling with something. She had no idea what it could be. Then, looking very fierce, he knelt down between Ed and Lissa and grabbed onto one shoulder each. "Listen, you two. Do not…do anything rash."

"Sure," Ed murmured, looking stunned.

Alex stood up abruptly and began walking off. "Well then…goodnight."

Lissa leaned back onto her palms and watched him go, wondering. He wasn't usually one for quick farewells like that… Something was bothering him. Something _big_. She just hoped he's share in time.

A tiny voice startled her from her thoughts. "They're back," Al murmured.

"Huh? What's back, Al?" Ed asked, turning back to him and frowning.

"All the memories from when my body was taken away. I remember it all now." He sounded…troubled, unsettled by what he'd recalled.

Ed sat up straighter. "What'd you see?" he asked urgently.

"Well…" Al shrugged faintly. "It was definitely weird," he admitted, wiggling his fingers halfheartedly like he was trying to turn it into a joke. "But unfortunately, I didn't find out anything about how to get our bodies back."

With a reassuring smile, Ed told him, "That's okay. Don't worry about it." He hefted Al's chestplate up, and, mindful of his injuries, Lissa hopped up and helped him carry the big piece over so Al could latch it back into place. She preferred him whole like this—it had to feel very exposed, sitting around with his body open like it had been. When he had the chestplate back in place, Lissa passed his little waist cloth back and helped him tie it, tucking the loose ends underneath so they wouldn't catch on anything.

"So…" Al sighed deeply. "I guess we haven't made any progress, after all that."

"No, that's not entirely true," Ed denied, rather optimistically. "You remember what the Führer told us back in Central? About the unrest in the ranks of the military?"

Lissa crossed her arms thoughtfully. "That's tough to forget. He warned us away from prying."

"And he told us it all had something to do with the Philosopher's Stone and the people with the ouroboros tattoos," Al mused, nodding. "He said he was trying to gather info on them."

Ed swung the bucket of water he'd been using absently, dangling it from his half-busted automail hand and twisting his mouth up as he considered it. "Well, Greed was obviously connected to them somehow. But if so…why'd the Führer think it was necessary to slaughter everyone?" His brows furrowed at the thought. "If he was trying to figure out what they're up to, why didn't he just catch them and make them talk?"

"Yeah, good point," Al admitted quietly. "It also seems a little weird that the Führer himself would lead an attack against such a small group."

"Sure does," Ed agreed, sounding weary. "No matter how you look at it, none of this adds up." He looked between Al and Lissa, his expression darkening. "We've been warned…but we need to get closer."

Lissa nodded slowly. "We need more pieces of the puzzle. But…" She twisted her fingers together, staring at her tattoos as she tried to arrange her mind. "I've been thinking a lot… And… I sensed something weird down there. Something I still can't make sense of. I know this…ability of mine is strange, even for an alchemist, so I understand if you don't think this means anything, but… Well…"

Al looked up at her, seeming earnest. "We trust you, Lissa," he reassured her. "You know we don't doubt your abilities."

"Even so, this is really weird. _I_ don't even know what to make of it." Lissa snagged up her gloves from the ground and slid them on, just to give her fingers something to do other than fidget. "I've said before how everything has a specific feeling, right? Fear is salty, like the ocean. Sulfur indicates death or suffering. Some of it is very clear, and correlates pretty clearly to what it means. But…not all of it does." She couldn't meet Ed's eyes, couldn't look up at him or Al for a moment. "Individuals have particular feelings, too. When you were unconscious earlier, Al, I knew you were still attached to the armor because I could sense you—there's a particular set of things I always feel from you. Both of you, actually. Anyway… At the Fifth Laboratory, I had plenty of time to sense those ouroboros creatures as well, so I got pretty familiar with it."

"And…what do they feel like?" Ed asked softly.

Lissa swallowed dryly. "Like…hundreds of worms wriggling in the earth. It's disgusting. And _really_ particular. Earlier today, I sensed it near Ms. Izumi and Mr. Sig's shop, while you were still with Greed and his chimeras, Al. And… I sensed it from Greed himself, once I went down to the Devil's Nest. That isn't surprising, I guess—if we really believe Greed was a homunculus, then the two we encountered at the Fifth Laboratory have to be as well, since they all felt the same. That's got to be what the ouroboros tattoo symbolizes. But…" She screwed her eyes shut. "I felt it one more time tonight."

Al gasped faintly. "What? When? Who did you feel it from?"

But Lissa's words had suddenly run out. How could she voice this? How could she _possibly_ say this, give it substance through sound?

A hand touched hers—fingers sliding between hers, palms pressing together as Ed took her hand and tugged her in closer to him. "Liss. Tell us. Al and I know better than to doubt you by now—whatever it is, we're not going to dismiss you."

"Just…confirm something for me," she whispered. "Greed was killed back in the sewers, right? Once he went back there, he never came out again?"

Al nodded, his armor clanking with the motion. "The Führer fought him there."

Lissa's throat burned. "Okay. So…it has to be that, then." She forced her eyes open, forced herself to look at both Ed and Al, to ground herself before she spoke. "I sensed it…around Führer Bradley."

Ed sucked in a sharp breath. "Around _him_? But—he _can't_ be a homunculus. There's no way."

"I'm just telling you what I felt," she snapped, upset he'd gone back on his word so quickly. "I can't control where this stuff comes from, Ed, or where I sense it. All I know is I sensed it at the shop, when the Führer was there—and again, in the tunnels, until the moment he walked away. If Greed was left all the way out in the sewers, or even killed out there, then there's only one common denominator. I found Al with the Führer, _just_ them, before I knew Greed was gone, and I sensed only two things at the time. Alphonse, and a homunculus."

"Brother… We should at least give it some thought," Al cut in, rising and touching Lissa's shoulder lightly. "I don't know why you sensed that, Lissa, but it had to be for a reason. We'll figure out what."

"Of course," Ed agreed softly. "I'm sorry, Liss. That was just…kind of shocking. But Al's right, you didn't sense it around him for nothing. He was already doing strange things tonight, killing all those chimeras and then Greed himself… Valuable sources of information just… _gone_. And even if Greed wasn't a homunculus, if he was lying or mistaken, the others _definitely_ were chimeras. Teacher confirmed it, and so did Major Armstrong. Why kill _them_?"

Lissa softened—he'd just been caught off guard, that was all. Stupid of her to lash out. "The chimeras felt different, so I know Greed wasn't a chimera. There's a certain sense of…of fruit, rotten fruit, that I get from chimeras."

"When I mentioned the ouroboros tattoo to Greed…he said a couple other names, too." Al looked at Ed a bit guiltily. "I forgot until now, but he mentioned—somebody called Lust, and another one called Sloth."

Ed wrinkled his nose. "Weird names."

"They're part of the Deadly Sins," Lissa murmured, waving him off.

Both boys looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean, _Deadly Sins_?" Al asked her curiously, tilting his head ever so slightly.

Lissa blinked. "Er… Did you never have any classes on old Amestrian religions?" she asked, baffled. It was pretty standard curriculum in Amestrian primary schools, albeit with a cautionary tone.

"We did," Ed admitted, smirking, "but we were too busy studying alchemy to pay attention."

"Idiots," Lissa muttered in amazement. "I'm surprised you've made it this far. _Well_." She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "There's a concept in some older religions that there's a series of original sins, ones that lead to all other possible sins. Like cardinal sins. They're called the Seven Deadly Sins—and you just listed off three of them, Al. Greed, Lust, and Sloth. There's also Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, and Pride. I doubt it means anything, but it's still weird that he named two other homunculi with names from the Seven Deadly Sins."

Ed gave her a curious look. "It's something to keep in mind, for sure. At the very least maybe they have some kind of weird naming convention for the ouroboros gang and we'll be able to spot them if they have one of those names." He sighed and stretched his back, raising his arms over his head—and then grimacing at his wrecked automail. "Shit. Winry's gonna kill me over this," he muttered.

Lissa smiled ruefully and squeezed his shoulder. "She really is."

"Um, Lissa…" Al wrung his hands together. "Can I ask you something? It—it might be kinda weird, I dunno… I just…I can't help but wonder."

She looked up at him in surprise, unsure what he might want to know. "Of course, Al. Ask me anything you'd like."

He nodded tentatively. "You said…that every person feels differently to you, right?"

At that point she thought she might just know what he wanted to ask—but she didn't want to jump ahead and risk upsetting him or being wrong, so she stayed patient. "Yeah, everybody has their own individual feeling. It can take me a bit to separate it out, especially if there's a bunch of people around, but it's all very different from person to person."

"So…" Al shifted anxiously on his feet, and Lissa noticed Ed staring at him, contemplating. "I…wondered…" He met her gaze then. "What does my soul feel like?"

She smiled at him gently. So she'd been right about what he had on his mind—he wanted to know what she sensed from him. It was sweet, really. "Well… You always feel sort of like…parchment and ink, like the feeling you get when you open up one of your favorite old books… And the feeling of sitting in front of the fireplace in wintertime, that sort of warm, comforting sense…" Lissa blushed faintly and shrugged, intensely aware of how strange it must sound. "Sorry… That's gotta be weird, I bet, to hear me go on like that."

"No, I…" Al giggled faintly. "I kinda like it, actually… Somehow it feels sort of…right, I guess. I dunno." His eyes glowed a bit brighter, like he was smiling at her. "Thanks for telling me, Lissa."

"Hey, what about me?" Ed's cheeks turned faintly red as he spoke. "What do I feel like?"

Lissa curled her fingers into the sleeve of her jacket absently, recalling it in her heart, focusing on where he stood only a few inches away. "Yours is…amber," she began slowly. "Warm amber like molten gold… The feeling of sunlight gleaming through water, flickering under the waves…" Her heart swelled, tight in her chest. "And…the sky at nighttime, the way you feel so small, yet so enormous sitting underneath a clear night's sky, looking up at the stars…" She broke off and flushed, biting her lip to keep herself from making it worse. "I know this has to sound bizarre… I mean, it _is_ , none of it is normal in the slightest. I'm sorry."

For a moment, something strange passed over Ed's face like a shadow—but then he brushed it off and grinned at her. "Nah, it's kinda cool, actually. I wouldn't have thought of that stuff." He ran his fingers through his ponytail and jerked his head at the door. "C'mon. Teacher's gonna put us on the menu if we don't go inside for dinner soon."

 _Why did he react that way? Did I say something wrong?_

But Ed just slipped his hand into Lissa's and pulled her towards the house, chattering away to Al as though nothing was wrong. So she stored the moment away, tucked it into her memories to worry about later—right now, she just wanted to appreciate that she had her boys back.

* * *

(Oh, we wanted to see Lissa being a little more badass in combat? Welp.)


	22. No End in Sight

Happy Boxing Day! Regardless of my own thoughts on this time of year, I hope everybody had a good holiday - no matter what you celebrate. Personally, I'm just happy I'm finished cooking... I made caramels from scratch on Christmas Eve (only for the second time ever!) and it's a crazy undertaking by itself, let alone handling about half the food on top of that. BUT. I still managed to get this together despite all that! I made a couple choices in this chapter after a lot of thought, and I'm not sure how they'll be received, but I'm really hopeful that it'll go over well. As always, pretty please let me know what you think, feedback means the world to me!

* * *

"Oh, this is _so_ much better than doing this alone!" Winry giggled, beaming back at Lissa over her shoulder.

Lissa grinned and hefted the heavy bag of automail parts higher on her shoulder. "Because you have a pack mule this way, right?" she teased. After Ed had been sufficiently reprimanded over wrecking his automail again, Winry had explained she needed to get some parts together and dismissed the three alchemists—but truth be told, Lissa found she'd missed the other girl and had offered to accompany her on her shopping trip. The boys would be just fine on their own, though Ed seemed to think they'd die of boredom out in Rush Valley, and after all the stress and weirdness that had been plaguing them recently Lissa was glad of the break.

Winry laughed and waved her off. " _No_ , silly. Because it's just nice having company, that's all." She slowed up and linked arms with Lissa and gave her a kinder smile. "Besides, with the way Ed's automail is busted up again… I'm glad to see you in one piece. What even happened in Dublith, Lissa? Or…" Her expression soured a bit. "Is this another one of those things you can't tell me?"

"I'd like to say no," Lissa muttered, twisting her mouth up, "but I can't really… I'm sorry, Win. I'd like to tell you more, I really would." She hated the lying, excluding Winry like this, so she aimed for a middle ground. "Ed told me your automail saved his ass, though. I…also owe you for a little, I may have…transmuted a piece of it myself in the middle of all of it. In the name of keeping the dummy from getting hurt, of course."

"Hmph. Well, you're making up for it by carrying all my stuff," Winry sighed, though she couldn't keep from smiling a bit. "I just wish he'd be more careful, he's always getting into so much trouble… At least there isn't much he can get up to here in Rush Valley."

Lissa smirked at her. "You know Ed and Al… They'll probably find some kind of mess."

"They'd better not," Winry grumbled. She perked right back up when she spotted the next store she needed, and promptly dragged Lissa in alongside her with strength her frame did _not_ suggest she actually possessed. It was kind of startling, but Lissa didn't really mind it. Really, though she hadn't spent all that much time with Winry, she genuinely liked the other girl.

"Hm, let's see… Ed lost the whole top panel on his forearm, right?" Winry asked of her, flicking through rows of sheet metal.

Lissa nodded. "Yeah, he did. I would've tried to grab it but in the chaos there just wasn't time."

Winry waved her off, though. "Nah, don't worry about it. If it'd been damaged that badly I would've needed to replace it anyway, even if you had brought it back. It just means it'll take longer than he'll want—I need to completely rework the piece, and he's so _picky_ about it since he transmutes it all the time…"

"Have you ever thought about just asking him to transmute it into the right shape for you?" Lissa asked, following Winry to the next aisle of the store.

The blonde's eyes narrowed. "I did think about it… But I don't trust him to do it to my specifications. He said once that it's easy to put it back to its original form, but to transmute it from scratch… I'm no alchemist, but I can imagine it'd be difficult to get it exactly right, especially since it's a composite metal."

"Steel and chrome, right?" Lissa mused, mostly to herself.

But Winry answered her anyway, not looking up from a rack of cables she'd begun to peruse. "Yup, seventeen percent chrome. He complained about it rusting so I upped the chrome last time to make it a little more resistant. I've thought about adding carbon, but steel is still the best option for somebody who does as much fighting as him, in my opinion. Besides, I'd have to totally reengineer my formula to do that… Don't tell Ed, but I _have_ been working on it, just in case. I just know he doesn't want to wait around while I test it."

Lissa tapped her fingers on her forearm thoughtfully, the fabric of her glove creaking with the motion. "Seventeen percent chrome, eighty-three percent steel. Those are some pretty big amounts to work with."

"Huh?" Winry finally looked up at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, remember how I told you before that I work with intangible elements?" Lissa twisted her fingers together as she spoke, considering it. "Usually I handle such trace amounts of whatever I'm transmuting that most people—most _alchemists_ —wouldn't even be aware of them. I can manipulate all kinds of things hardly anyone else can."

The blonde nodded thoughtfully. "Right, like when you transmuted metal right out of the air back in Resembool."

"Exactly. The metal you're talking about, the composite for Ed's automail, it's in much larger quantities—but that doesn't make it any less important to maintain the blend and arrangement of the molecules themselves. I bet when most alchemists try to transmute automail from scratch, they can't actually control that arrangement perfectly over such a large area and end up creating weak spots inadvertently, just because they don't have the ability to feel the exact arrangement of the molecules within the metal. They only see the separate pieces, not the details on that level."

Lissa reached into one of the bags she'd been carrying and pulled out a length of wiring Winry had bought earlier. "If I ruin this, I'll pay you back," she promised, smirking. With a crackle of blue alchemic energy, Lissa tightened her fingers around the wire—and deconstructed several inches near the middle, letting the dust pool in her palm.

Then, summoning up her alchemy once more, she reconstructed the materials and brought it back together with the rest of the wiring. When she'd finished, Lissa handed the wire off to Winry for inspection. "Not even a seam," she pointed out, smirking.

"This…is copper-aluminum alloy," Winry murmured, surprised. "You transmuted it back perfectly. At least, as far as I can see."

Lissa rested a hand on her hip and grinned. "Maybe I can expedite the process just a bit? I can't temper metal for you, that's beyond my abilities…but as far as shaping goes, I might actually be able to help you out."

Winry matched her expression and passed the wire back, looking thrilled. "I'm willing to give you a shot, for sure."

The rest of their shopping took until sundown—partway through they stopped for lunch, eating at a little café near the shopping district and chatting amiably the whole time. Winry decided to stock up on a few other parts she needed, so by the end, Lissa was basically dragging bags through the dirt, her arm muscles aching. She did feel like she owed Winry for abusing part of her automail, though, so she didn't complain. As they passed through the center of town, nearly to their destination, they picked up ambient discussions about some fight that went down during the day. Lissa hoped desperately it didn't have to do with the boys…but she had a bad feeling about it nonetheless.

"We're back!" Winry announced cheerily, as they pushed past the front door of Mr. Garfiel's shop. "Did you guys catch the fight? We heard something went down on Main Street, but we didn't see it happen."

Lissa hauled her tired legs in behind Winry and nodded. "You better not have been…involved in…" Her jaw dropped. Ed stood above a boy she didn't recognize, some foreigner in a yellow jacket…with his _entire automail arm_ in his hand. He'd been using it as a damned _club_ on that kid!

" _What happened to your arm_?!" Winry screeched.

As Winry launched an attack, berating Ed and flinging wrenches and other tools his way, Al, Mr. Garfiel, and the newcomer all stepped to the side to give her plenty of room. Lissa dumped their purchases on the floor and stretched her back, unconcerned. Whatever the hell Ed had done to get his arm torn off…he probably deserved the retribution.

 _Wait… What am I feeling here?_

Lissa tuned into that extra sense, feeling pins-and-needles around her neck, and immediately jerked her gaze up to meet the eyes of the foreign boy. Well, she thought he was a boy. He seemed younger than his appearance and demeanor suggested, somehow, though she didn't quite know _why_ she felt that way. And…why was he staring at her? Why did he feel so… _familiar_?

No, not him specifically… Yet something about him…

"Hello!" he practically chirped, bounding over to her. "You must be a friend of Edward and Alphonse, yes?" He clasped her hands in his. "I'm Ling Yao, I just met them today but I'm sure we'll be great friends."

Lissa blinked. _That feels…odd… What the hell is this? What the hell is_ _he_ _?_ "Er—nice to meet you, Ling. I'm Lissa Caito, I'm Ed's trainee and sort of partner. You…" She let her gaze dart up and down him, just once, confirming her suspicions. Yes, there was no mistaking it, not after giving him a second look. "You're from Xing, aren't you?"

Ling grinned widely. "Indeed I am! How'd you guess?"

"Your clothing. I've transmuted enough clothes in the past three years to recognize that your jacket isn't Amestrian." Lissa extricated her hands from his and stared at him again. "I… Is this your first time in Amestris?"

He bobbed his head. "Yup. Never wanted to bother crossing the desert before. Why?"

"I just wondered if we'd met before," she admitted, though it sounded stupid. She just couldn't shake the weird sense of familiarity.

"I can't say that we have, no. Though for a moment I did wonder the same," Ling admitted, shrugging it off easily. "Oh well. I don't suppose you've ever been to Xing before, Lissa?"

She bit back a laugh at the idea. "I've never left Amestris."

Ling grinned cheerily at her. "Well, perhaps we'll trade stories soon, hm?"

Lissa nodded absently, and turned to check on Ed for a moment. When she looked back, intending to pepper Ling with more questions, he'd just…vanished. She stretched out her senses, trying to find that weird familiar flicker, the sense of meeting someone again after years apart— _damned impossible_ —only to feel it _tripled_ in size up on the rooftop, or thereabouts. So…three people? Three Xingese she had _clearly_ never met before, yet all of whom felt eerily familiar?

No, Lissa didn't like this at all. But she was too wary after Ed's strange reaction the night before to risk telling anyone—she'd just wait and see what happened with these newcomers.

Once Winry calmed down, she irritably began working on Ed's automail, under Mr. Garfiel's watchful eye, seeming frustrated about the whole thing. Lissa didn't blame her. She perched on the edge of a bench, her leg brushing alongside Edward's, but she gave him a dirty look as she sat down just so he knew she was cross.

"Don't look at me like that," he whined, pouting at her. "Look, that—that Xingese guy's bodyguards attacked me and I had to find _some_ way to handle that girl when she pulled a damn bomb on me."

"A bomb?" Lissa repeated in shock. "Wait, one of Ling's bodyguards used a _bomb_ on you?!"

Ed nodded grumpily. "Yeah. Al and I spent the whole afternoon fixing up the town after those two came at us and _forced_ us to fight. I don't like 'em. Any of 'em."

Softening a bit, Lissa reached out and brushed her fingers along his knee, just to let him know she was calming down. "There's something weird about them for sure," she agreed.

"So," Winry grumbled, glaring down at Ed's half-repaired arm like she wanted to incinerate it or something, "where are you headed to break your automail _this_ time?"

Ed wrinkled his nose. "You just assume I'll break it?"

Ignoring him, Al told her, "We were thinking about doing some digging in Central, actually."

"You guys are going to Central?" Winry brightened immediately, turning to face them with a big smile on her face. "I want to come too, take me with you!"

"What do you wanna go there for?" Ed asked her.

Winry wasn't bothered by his questioning, thankfully. "I'd like to go see the Hughes family again," she explained.

"But…" Al tilted his head. "Don't you have a lot of work to do here?"

"Yeah, you talked a lot about how busy you are," Lissa agreed—though she wouldn't mind Winry tagging along back to Central for a bit. Yet again, she and the boys were afloat without a life raft, no leads to speak of, so it wasn't like Winry would be holding them back or anything. The distraction might even buy them enough time to figure out where to look next.

Mr. Garfiel leaned in and smiled sweetly at Winry. "It's okay if you want to go, Winry," he told her. "You should take a break every once in a while."

She beamed and took his hands. "Oh, really? Thanks so much, Mr. Garfiel!"

Ed grinned and shrugged, his knee bumping into Lissa's like he was checking in on her. "Okay, we'll all go!" he agreed easily.

"Central, here we come!" Al laughed, giving a thumbs up in approval.

"Oh, we're going to Central? How exciting!"

Lissa spun in surprise as Ling dangled upside down from the roof, peeking in through the window at her and Ed's backs. She'd gotten so used to sensing him and his compatriots on the roof that she hadn't even noticed him approaching.

"I told you, you're not coming with us!" Ed yelled angrily.

Winry giggled and waved her hand passively at him. "It's a public train, Ed. They can go wherever they'd like." She looked at Lissa hopefully then, rocking on the balls of her feet ever so slightly. "So, Lissa… You feel up to trying that thing you offered earlier?"

"Thing?" Ed repeated, turning away from Ling and eyeing Lissa curiously. "What thing?"

Lissa stood up and ruffled his hair, making him yelp and push at her hand a bit helplessly, since he only had his left. "I told Winry I'd try and transmute the forearm panel for your automail into the right shape, rather than her having to do it by hand or with a mold. It'd be quicker if I can manage it, so you'd better hope this is within my skillset."

"I thought it was too difficult to transmute automail?" Al wondered. "Unless you're just returning it to its original form, like brother does."

"Well, Lissa had a great theory earlier that because she works with materials in such a specific way, she might have better luck," Winry explained. She ducked into the back of the shop a moment, returning with a sheet of metal she'd cut down earlier. Her usual composite for Ed's automail.

Ed gave Lissa a thoughtful look. "You know, that's an interesting point… I never thought about it that way."

"I still don't know if it'll work," Lissa admitted, a bit uncomfortable with the attention. "But at least I'll be able to feel out the weak spots if I make any—like what I did when I cleared out your armor, Al. Whether it works or not, it'll be an interesting experiment at least."

Swinging down and into the room, Ling asked, "Mind if I watch? I'm very interested in alchemy, you see."

"Don't you dare-"

"Sure, why not?" Lissa cut in, rolling her eyes at Ed's angry rebuke. He _really_ hated this guy apparently. "My alchemy's a little different—it won't be like what you saw Ed and Al do today, just so you know." She stripped off her gloves before picking up the sheet of metal Winry had brought, wanting to have the full extent of her abilities in place to do this. The schematic for this piece was laying out on the worktable, with measurements and a full diagram of every side of the intended shape, which was exactly what she needed. Lissa visualized the final shape in her mind as she reached into the metal, her hands crackling with alchemic energy, and focused on the individual molecules, the atoms making up the material—it had a particular arrangement, a pattern, just like she'd assumed, which needed to remain in place throughout the entire transmutation. If even a small section was altered, it could create a weak spot that would cause Ed problems later on.

Slowly, Lissa began to transmute the metal—switching her focus between the actual contents of the piece and the form she wanted it to take, a balancing act of attention that made sweat bead along her forehead. It didn't help that she had an audience, and she was doing this for _Edward_ too, so it mattered infinitely more than it would have otherwise.

The panel began to take shape in her hands, the usual divots and holes shifting into place, the metal reconstructing beneath her fingers as she forced it to take the shape she wanted. And finally, as the last shift took place, Lissa released her hold on the transmutation and let out a deep, weary sigh. That wasn't easy by any means. But the end result… It looked _exactly_ how it should, that same familiar panel she'd gotten so accustomed to seeing.

"Oh, wow," Winry breathed, hurrying to take it from her and begin measuring it to check for consistency. "This is spot-on, Lissa. It's exactly the right dimensions."

"I need to make sure there aren't weak spots before we celebrate," Lissa admitted, tugging a hand through her hair. "I didn't think I'd get it on my first try, honestly… It seemed like it'd be more a struggle to actually hit the right measurements." She took the plate back when Winry passed it over and focused on it, reading the arrangement of the atoms and tracing her fingers along the metal to feel out every section. But…nothing felt off, not even slightly. It was consistent and still the exact same ratio, 17-83 chrome and steel. No foreign particles.

When she reported that back, Winry's eyes lit up like it was her birthday—and Lissa understood why. The girl reveled in her work, but redoing Ed's automail all the time had to get tedious… But if Lissa could take some of the strain off, it'd be _so_ much easier.

Her success was quickly verified by Mr. Garfiel, which sparked a bigger discussion on the merits of transmuted automail plating versus hand-wrought, but Lissa couldn't focus on that… Because quite suddenly she'd become hyperaware that Ling was staring at her, contemplating her, and she couldn't shake the feeling that she would become his next meal.

"Liss?" Ed touched the small of her back lightly, quirking a smile. "C'mon, let's go find some dinner, okay? We'll take the train back to Central tomorrow."

She forced herself to tune the Xingese boy's strange focus out and returned the smile, looping her arm around Ed's waist and nodding. "Yes, please. I carried all of Winry's stuff today, I'm _starving_. Your treat, right?"

He laughed and nodded. "Yeah, absolutely."

Lissa allowed him to distract her, keeping her mind on everything else—on trying to convince Al to join them, asking Winry if she wanted anything, where to go to find good food—but all the while, she stayed completely conscious of Ling's eyes following her relentlessly.

—

The train ride up to Central from Rush Valley became awkward _so_ fast. Their group drew everyone's attention in a heartbeat—a suit of armor, a few teenagers, a Xingese boy, and two bodyguards sneaking around weren't exactly subtle—and it was compounded by Ling's refusal to do anything but sit in the same row and chatter on incessantly. Winry didn't share Ed, Al, and Lissa's consternation with him, so she was happy to make conversation on the way. It kept him occupied, at least.

Lissa wasn't…thrilled with the situation. She still was getting those odd vibes from the Xingese, whenever she tuned into her senses, and it was distracting. Ed didn't know why she was so distracted, as they hadn't had two seconds alone where she could explain it, but he knew something was wrong and did his best to help. He'd dragged her into the seat next to him and pulled her legs up over his lap, how they usually sat on these longer train rides—and she noted when Ling gazed over in interest, Ed's arms folded across her almost possessively, though he pretended it was just a casual gesture. She didn't mind it at all.

There was something different about the way Edward was acting, since that night in South City. It had taken her a couple days to actually tune into it, but once she'd noticed it was impossible to miss. Outwardly, he projected as though nothing had changed…yet he somehow arranged every situation to ensure he was right next to her. For example: Al, Winry, Ed, and Lissa had gone out to lunch together in Rush Valley—and Ed had oh-so-subtly switched chairs to ensure he was beside her.

Lissa wondered why. Since his little…slip in South City, he hadn't acted more than friendly with her. They were close, as always, but he wasn't pushing any boundaries, wasn't making any overt gestures… Some part of her thought that maybe it really _had_ just been because he was sick, and feverish. Which made it that much more important she keep her emotions to herself.

When they reached Central station, Ling vanished—sending Lan Fan and Fu, his attendants, into a state of panic.

"Good riddance," Ed muttered, rolling his eyes. "Come on, let's get out of here. I'm sure he'll find another sucker to trick into feeding him, he'll be just fine." Lissa had learned all about that particular event—how Ling had eaten several _thousand_ cens' worth of food in under an hour. It was both unsettling and impressive.

Lissa agreed, honestly, and Al and Winry didn't seem to mind, so they all headed out of the station together, leaving the Xingese behind to look for their erstwhile prince.

 _Prince._ Ling was a damned Xingese prince. Lissa was even more distrustful of him after learning that little fact.

"Okay, guess we should stop by the military offices first," Ed mused, slinging his suitcase over his shoulder.

"Right," Al agreed, nodding.

"In that case, I think I'll head straight to the Hughes' house and let them know I'm in town," Winry decided, smiling just at the thought. "I can't wait to see Miss Gracia and cute little Elicia! It feels like it's been ages since I've seen them."

Ed tucked his free arm around Lissa's. "Sounds good. We shouldn't be all that far behind you."

"Unless we get held up," Lissa pointed out, smirking.

Winry giggled. "Okay. See ya later, good luck!" She waved and hurried off down the street then, disappearing among the midday crowds in seconds.

As soon as she was safely gone, Al turned to Ed and Lissa. "I wonder if Lieutenant Colonel Hughes has put together any more information on the Philosopher's Stone since we left."

Lissa frowned. "He was ordered not to. We all were."

"Yeah, the Führer was pretty clear with his orders regarding that… But I don't know that he would've stopped looking anyway. Still… I think it's best if we give Hughes the information that we found out first. Whether or not he's still looking, it'll explain a little more of what we were trying to figure out back then."

Al nodded slowly. "You mean the homunculi."

"I do." Ed sighed and turned to look behind them, trying to get a sense for their location. "I'm pretty sure Hughes said he was in the court martial office last time. So that means…it's this way. C'mon." He pulled Lissa off with him, Al following quickly, and together they all headed for the office.

Lissa wasn't sure how she felt, being back in Central. The world around her felt shifted, changed, after what she'd seen. Homunculi, fully-functional chimeras, the strange feelings she got from Führer Bradley… She hated not understanding all of it. If Hughes had risked continuing to dig around, maybe he could help them make sense of all the tiny bits of information they had. His job was putting pieces together, after all, seeing the big picture. If anybody could help them get their thoughts in order, it would be Lieutenant Colonel Hughes.

They entered the court martial office with a flash of Ed's pocket watch, searching around a bit aimlessly for Hughes' office—until Lissa spotted a familiar person leaning against the wall up ahead. "Riza!" she called, darting forward and beaming at the First Lieutenant.

"Huh?" Ed followed her, Al just behind him. "Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

Riza looked up at them in clear surprise. "Hey, guys," she greeted, smiling. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, we've been pretty busy," Lissa admitted. "It's good to see you, though."

Ed's face fell suddenly, his nose wrinkling in distaste. "Wait a minute… If the Lieutenant's here, that means so is…"

"Thanks for waiting," a familiar voice spoke from around the corner.

Lissa jerked back as Ed did, neither particularly excited to see Colonel Mustang round the bend to rejoin Riza, who had apparently been waiting on him to return.

"Well hello, Fullmetal," Mustang greeted dryly.

Ed glowered at him. "Colonel Mustang. What are you doing here in Central?"

Mustang just smirked in return, unbothered. "You didn't hear? I was transferred to this branch last month. You miss things when you're out traveling the country."

"Great," Ed muttered.

"And you guys?" Mustang pressed. "What brings you here?"

Lissa shrugged faintly, trying to cut across Ed's growing irritation. She wasn't happy either—she just wanted to end the conversation quicker, honestly, and get away from him as soon as possible. "Just gathering a little information, that's all."

"And we were thinking that we'd pay Lieutenant Colonel Hughes a little visit too," Ed added on. "Where is he, anyway? We couldn't find his office."

Mustang's mouth thinned. "Not here."

 _What?_

"He retired, out in the country, and took his wife and daughter with him, to take over the family business," Mustang continued. Lissa hadn't ever heard him sound this way—his voice was so tight, his jaw set, like he was holding something back. But _what_? What could he possibly be hiding? Hughes was his friend, had they…had some disagreement or something? Maybe he was upset about…him retiring? Which was weird to begin with, Hughes relished in his job. "So he's not here."

"I see," Ed murmured, looking over and Lissa and Al a bit dejectedly. "Well, that's too bad."

Al nodded sadly. "We were hoping to see him."

With that, Mustang seemed finished—he turned to go abruptly, though Riza hesitated… Only to pause before he made it around the corner. "Fullmetal, Lissandra… Watch yourselves," he warned lowly. "Don't do anything crazy."

 _Another warning not to act out,_ Lissa noted. _What the hell is going on? First Alex, now Mustang?_

Ed furrowed his brow in confusion. "Okay."

That was the end of it, apparently. Mustang strode away, and Riza followed him, giving the three a half-smile before she turned and left. But Lissa just felt… _wrong_ , all over. She didn't like this at all. It wasn't like Mustang to go without pestering her and Ed, either.

"I can't believe Hughes is actually gone," Ed murmured, frowning.

"Oh, I almost forgot, brother… We need to tell Winry about all this," Al realized a bit anxiously. "She went straight to the Hughes' house."

Lissa shook herself from her concerns. "Aw, no, she'll be so disappointed…"

"Yeah, you're right." Ed twisted his mouth up. "We should go get her." He turned to run back down the hall—only to yelp and stumble backwards as he rammed into someone else.

"This is why you shouldn't run everywhere," Lissa chided, sighing as she righted him.

Edward just stuck out his tongue.

She looked up to apologize—and then grinned when she recognized who exactly Ed had bumped into. "Oh, hey, Lieutenant Ross! You're still stationed here in Central!"

Lieutenant Maria Ross smiled in return. "Yup, sure am. I haven't seen you three here in a while… You seem to be in quite a hurry. What's the rush?"

Ed lifted their suitcase back onto his shoulder, his preferred place. "We just heard about Lieutenant Colonel Hughes," he explained. That melancholic tone hadn't quite left him—Lissa didn't like hearing it lingering in his voice.

Ross's expression fell. "Yeah," she murmured. "It's rough news, isn't it?"

"There was still so much that we wanted to tell him about," Ed agreed, smiling faintly.

"We would've liked to say goodbye," Al agreed, nodding.

Somehow, Ross looked even more downcast. "We weren't able to reach you," she explained gently. "Don't worry, though. The military gave him a proper send-off."

 _A proper send-off?_ Lissa felt her heart speed up. That sounded like…

Ed raised his eyebrows. "Wow, that was nice."

"That's how it's done. Also…" She averted her gaze and sighed deeply, seeming so troubled by the whole thing. "If you three haven't heard already… I'm sure you'll all be glad to know—he was promoted. Two whole ranks."

Lissa's mouth went dry.

"Up to Brigadier General?" Ed's eyes shot wide, his voice tightening just a bit.

"Why'd they promote him if he was retiring to the country?" Lissa asked. Her voice wavered as she spoke, but she had to know…she _had_ to find out if…if this was…

Ross gasped and recoiled, pressing both hands over her mouth.

"Lieutenant Ross?" Edward's voice came out in a hoarse, weak whisper.

Al's armor clanked as he shifted back, staggering a step away. "B-but… He wouldn't be promoted…just for…retiring…"

"I'm sorry," Ross whispered, her voice muffled by her hands. "I'm so sorry… I thought you knew… I thought…" She swallowed hard and shook her head, her hands falling away to reveal she'd gone so very pale. "Lieutenant Colonel—I mean… Brigadier General Hughes… He… He's…"

Lissa closed her eyes and dropped her head into her hands. _No, not him, he can't be gone, he can't be… How…_

"No!" Ed cried, echoing her thoughts. "Not the Lieutenant Colonel! Why him?!"

"It can't be true," Al whispered brokenly. " _Please_ , Lieutenant… It can't be true, it just can't be…"

Slowly, Ross gathered herself, though her voice shook as she spoke. "I'm so sorry… Brigadier General Hughes is dead… He was murdered shortly after you and Lissa were discharged from the hospital, Edward… And I… I'm afraid we still haven't found the person responsible."

Lissa peeled her hands off her face, trembling, and met Ross's watery gaze. "It…can't be," she whispered, stunned. It was like the whole world had stopped spinning. "Colonel Mustang just—he just told us Hughes _retired_ , out to the countryside… Why would he…" _Of course he'd lie. He'd never be honest with you and Edward, he thinks you're just children. He wouldn't have the guts to be honest._

"I'm sorry," Ross repeated softly. "I—think he was trying to protect you." She looked between the three anxiously—Al, armor clicking with repressed shudders; Lissa, fighting back tears; and Ed, staring hollowly at the ground. "Edward? Are you…" Ross stretched her arm out to take his shoulder.

But Ed jerked back, the suitcase slipping from his hand. He stumbled over it, backwards, and then just…took off running.

Lissa grabbed for his sleeve, but he was too fast—and in seconds, he'd raced around the corner and vanished out of sight. "Oh, no," she breathed. She glanced sideways at Al, both coming to the same conclusion in moments—they _couldn't_ let Ed go off on his own like this. Al grabbed up the suitcase while Lissa, with every bit of strength she had left, took off after Ed.

They caught up with him as he burst out the front of the building and leapt down the stairs. "Brother!" Al called helplessly.

"Ed, wait!" Lissa shot down the stairs after him—but he was so _fast_ , running all-out, lost to his emotions. She cursed harshly and skidded to a halt, nearly causing Al to run into her. "What do we do?" she breathed.

Al shoved halfheartedly at her shoulder. " _Transmute_ , Lissa! Go after him!"

"Shit," she breathed. _I'm an idiot!_ Lissa swung her hands forward, the air sparkling blue, and transmuted the air in her path—without any resistance, she sprinted after Edward, her heart aching to leave Alphonse behind like that, but she just didn't have a choice. He'd told her to go.

She followed the end of his red cloak, just barely keeping up, her legs unsteady and muscles trembling, all her effort focused on keeping the tears back… But finally, Ed stumbled to a halt in an alleyway, his strength failing him. He pressed his hand into the wall for support and bowed his head, shoulders shaking, breath coming in harsh, gasped pants.

"Ed…" Lissa's boots echoed as she crossed to him, raising a trembling hand to rest on his back.

"He's gone," Ed breathed. "He… I can't…"

Tears spilled down her cheeks as Ed sank to the ground, pressing his face into his knees, curling in on himself. She knelt beside him and pulled him into her arms, tight as she could, her body trembling, tears soaking into the shoulder of his cloak.

Hughes was _gone_ … He'd been murdered, killed right after they'd left Central… If only they'd remained there another day, if they hadn't gone rushing off…

"It's our fault," Ed rasped, his voice muffled and weak. "Liss… It's _our_ fault he died… He was looking into our problems, and they…they silenced him…"

Her throat burned with a repressed sob. "I know," she admitted quietly.

It was true—it had to be. Those homunculi had blown up Laboratory Five to prevent its secrets getting out… They claimed Ed and Lissa were sacrifices, and couldn't be killed, but she had no doubt that they would kill anyone else, anyone they didn't deem important… Anyone who might be snooping into their plans… Like _Hughes_ … If they hadn't gotten him involved, dragged him into their business…then he might not be…

Lissa tightened her fingers on Ed's cloak and swallowed hard. She didn't know what else to say.

"Brother, Lissa… We need to…"

She looked up, meeting Al's dim red eyes. "Winry," she agreed quietly. "We have to go make sure she…knows about…" But her voice cracked and she gave up. She couldn't voice the words yet. She wasn't strong enough.

Ed stood up right out of her arms—but his fingers looped around her wrist as he rose, and he pulled her up with him, keeping her tight against his side. "You're right," he murmured. His face was very pale, his eyes reddened and squinted with anguish, but his gaze was determined. "We need to find Winry. If she hasn't heard, then we need to tell her… And if she has…" His fingers clenched down on Lissa's wrist. "Then we need to be there for her anyway."

Going off Ed's resolve alone, the three made their way across town to the apartment where it seemed, most likely, that Gracia and Elicia still lived. Considering Mustang had lied…Lissa thought Hughes' wife and daughter might still be here.

"What do we do?" Al asked, as they stood outside the door to the building.

Ed sucked in a deep breath. "We tell it like it is," he murmured. Then he gently extricated himself from Lissa and nudged her in Al's direction. "You two go on back. I'm the only one who has to take the blame for what happened."

"Brother… This isn't just your problem," Al told him softly. "It's both of ours."

" _All_ of ours," Lissa corrected, fighting to keep her voice steady. "We all had a hand in this, Ed. It's not just on you to take the blame."

Ed frowned at them both. "Liss… No…"

But Al interrupted him. "Lissa's right. Like it or not, we're going in with you."

"You really don't have t-"

"We made up our minds," Al cut in, stopping him again. "We said we were getting our bodies back, no matter what." Edward whipped around to stare at him in shock. "But if people are going to die because of that, then I don't _want_ mine back."

Ed sighed deeply—but he nodded and accepted it all the same. "Okay. Together, then."

They made their way up to the apartment, and Lissa noted Ed took it upon himself to knock, to be the first one to handle this—yet it was something she couldn't begrudge him. He'd stopped arguing against her and Al going with him, so she could let him take the lead, let him maintain that little modicum of control that made him feel so much better.

The door swung open, and Gracia stepped into view. Lissa tensed, waiting for a rebuke… But instead Gracia just smiled softly and moved aside to let them in. "Winry's already here," she told them softly.

Lissa followed Ed inside, her heart breaking just a little more when she saw Winry sitting in the living room, Elicia curled up in her arms fast asleep. The blonde's eyes were tight with pain, her cheeks stained with tears… So she knew. Of course she did. She probably found out as soon as she came over here… Thankfully she'd been with Gracia and Elicia, not alone, not handling it by herself…

"Um, Miss Gracia," Ed began slowly, "I'm sorry, but there's something I need to talk to you about, if I may."

Gracia frowned slightly. "About Maes?"

Ed nodded. "That's right. And you too, Winry. You should both hear this."

They all settled in—Lissa placed herself at Ed's side, just like he'd been doing for her, keeping one hand on his arm while he recounted part of the story for Gracia and Winry. Enough to explain what had happened, enough to lay the blame atop his head, and Al's, and Lissa's. He told the two about the Philosopher's Stone and how Hughes had offered his assistance—how despite being told not to, they all believed he'd continued digging, which had led to…his death.

"I see," Gracia murmured, when Ed finally fell silent. "So Maes learned things about the Philosopher's Stone that someone didn't want him to know. His death was a message… A warning to you from whoever did it, to back off from all this."

Ed stared at his own lap miserably. "Yeah. We basically dragged him into it." A shudder ran through him. "I'm sorry," he told her, bowing his head, completely overcome. "So sorry…"

Lissa sucked in a sharp breath and took his shoulder, feeling him tremble beneath her palm. She didn't know what to do—her own vision was blurred with tears, barely restrained, and Ed was…just falling apart beside her… What could she do? What could anyone do?

Gracia smoothed her hand across Elicia's head. "That would be just like him," she sighed. "Dying while trying to help somebody else."

All four looked up at her in confusion. Why wasn't she angry?

"My husband," Gracia murmured fondly. "He always was a busybody and a meddler, and it got him into trouble. A lot. But you know…" The faintest smile touched her lips. "I don't think he ever had regrets. Not any. Not even in his dying moments, Edward."

Ed gritted his teeth and shook his head. "But we…"

Gracia looked up at him, suddenly turning fierce, her gaze sharpening. "Don't tell me you're going to give up," she told him firmly. "You can't let what happened defeat you. If you do, then that means my husband died in vain." Then she softened, smiled, pulled her daughter closer. "Even if the Philosopher's Stone is a dead end, there might be some other way."

"Maybe," Ed admitted quietly. "I guess."

She inclined her head towards him. "You have to keep moving forward," Gracia counseled. "Any way you can."

"Thank you," Lissa murmured, knowing the boys couldn't voice it. "Thank you, Miss Gracia."

They said their goodbyes and left, feeling it was best not to linger—Lissa had a thousand thoughts swirling in her head, her mind completely overwhelmed by what had happened, what they'd learned, and she knew the others had to be struggling as well. The only thing she could think of was to sleep or at least lie in a bed, to sit there in the darkness and just…try to make some sense of a world that existed without Maes Hughes.

Yet when they arrived back at the hotel, and Lissa had to face the reality of continuing like this…she couldn't. "I…I'm gonna go for a walk," she stammered, when Ed finished at the front desk.

He frowned at her. "Liss… You should eat something, we haven't eaten all day…"

"I'm fine," she denied quickly. "I'll come back before the kitchen closes, I promise, I just… Need to sort myself out, that's all."

Ed looked like he wanted to argue—but then he just nodded, maybe too upset at this point to argue. "Okay. Just look after yourself, Liss." He tugged her in, and she thought her heart might break when he just…just held her there, arms circled loosely around her, resting his forehead on hers for a moment. "Stay safe," he whispered.

Lissa squeezed his hands tightly. "I will. Don't wait for me to eat, okay? I'll figure myself out."

"All right." He held her there a moment longer, eyes boring into hers, before he slowly released her and let her go.

Lissa left the hotel behind and walked off down the quiet, darkened streets of Central, her whole body feeling heavy, weighted by the loss, the sorrow of it all… She just didn't know what to do. And it was all compounded by the fact that Mustang had _lied_ to her, to Ed and Al… He'd outright lied about Hughes being alive. If he'd just come out and told them, done it the right way… Maybe it would've been easier to bear, but… But instead he'd just…

 _No wonder Riza kept looking at him that way… She was shocked he didn't tell us…_

For a moment, Lissa considered going and visiting Riza herself—but she didn't have a clue where the Lieutenant might be living, and she wouldn't dare go down to HQ because then she might run into Mustang, and she…didn't know what she'd do right now if she saw him. Alex was supposed to be stationed here too, but that involved going onto military property as well and again, that risked seeing Mustang…

 _Dammit… Mustang…_

Lissa clenched her fists angrily, so overcome she paused under a streetlight, just simmering in her rage for a moment. How _dare_ he? Ever since she'd come to Central he'd claimed to be looking after her, keeping her best interests at heart—he'd always had a special interest in her case, though he never admitted why, and even though he wasn't her favorite person…she hadn't ever outright _disbelieved_ that. Mustang always seemed to at least be attempting to help her. But with this…

She couldn't fathom how he thought this was _better_ for her, or for Ed and Al. The betrayal was a damned knife in the back to her. She hadn't felt so angry with him since…since…

Since he'd tried to force Ed to take over Shou Tucker's work.

A brush of familiarity tingled at the back of her neck, and Lissa turned to see a black-clothed figure crouching on the rooftop behind her. "I guess you can't find Ling," she murmured. She wasn't sure which of his guards this was, she had yet to interact with any of them alone to piece out their individual senses, but she knew they were Xingese for sure.

"No." Ah, so it was Lan Fan. That definitely wasn't Fu's voice. "We have not been able to locate the young lord."

"He's around somewhere," Lissa offered, though she didn't know _why_ she was trying to console the other girl, especially when she herself had such bigger problems to face. "Central's a big city, it'd be hard to find just one guy this fast."

Lan Fan inclined her head slightly. "I suppose so."

"Did you come here hoping he'd found his way back to us?" Lissa edged curiously.

"Yes," the Xingese girl admitted. "I did hope so… But since he hasn't returned, I need to continue looking." Yet she didn't rise from where she'd perched, didn't make a move. Her face was hidden beneath that mask, which Al had repaired for her back in Rush Valley, so it was…disconcerting to carry on a conversation with her. "You seem…angry," Lan Fan observed quietly.

Lissa laughed humorlessly. "Yeah. I'm pretty angry right now. Is it that obvious?"

"Not exactly…" There was a faint whisper of fabric, and Lan Fan melted out of the shadows, moving to stand just barely within the glow of the streetlight. "It was radiating off you like heat from a fire… That's how I found you out here."

"Radiating off me? What do you mean?"

The Xingese girl just shrugged. "Just that." Her dark eyes bored into Lissa through the slits of her mask. "I hope you find peace with whatever you're struggling with, Lissa Caito. You should rejoin your friends. They'll look after you. No one should suffer alone." With a single movement, Lan Fan leapt up the streetlight and used it as leverage to hop onto the next building, clearly intending to leave.

"Lan Fan!" Lissa called, stepping towards her and raising a hand. The girl paused and looked back at her, that impassible mask staring down at her. "Thank you. I—I hope you find Ling soon."

The other girl didn't say anything—yet as she turned and darted off, melting into the darkness of the night, Lissa had the strangest feeling that Lan Fan had been smiling at her.

She sighed and craned her neck up, staring at the faintest glimmer of stars above her head. Central was too bright, too polluted with light for any real stargazing, and she found herself missing Resembool of all places, where the stars were brighter than she'd ever seen. There was nothing like it, that sense of calm and quiet, the serenity of the countryside… Lissa _missed_ Resembool, she missed the time she'd gotten to spend there with Ed and Al and Winry, nothing hanging over their heads but the stars…

' _No one should suffer alone.'_

Lissa turned and stared down the street, searching for the hotel, stretching high above the other buildings nearby—it was still in sight, after all. Most of the rooms were lit up from within, glowing orange-yellow past the curtains… But she could see the light in the boys' room was off.

 _If so…then they shouldn't suffer alone either._

She wrapped her arms around herself and began the lonely walk to the hotel, suddenly feeling so very small out there on the street all by herself. Lissa had almost made it back to the front door when footsteps echoed down the road, the leathery _tic_ of military boots on the stones, and she paused to see a soldier approaching. "Cadet Caito," he called, lifting his hand. "Colonel Mustang needs you at headquarters."

Lissa folded her arms over her chest. "It's after nine PM. I'm off duty. Why does he want me, anyway? Can't it wait until morning?"

But the soldier—a Sergeant, she noted from his collar—shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Cadet. I was ordered to escort you to headquarters immediately. I'm sorry to bother you this late, but there's nothing I can do."

She cast a regretful look at the hotel, but knew deep in her heart there was nothing to be done. "It's fine, it's not your fault." She sighed wearily. "Well, lead the way, then."


	23. A Flame in the Dark

Happy New Year everyone! I was intending to get this out a couple days ago, but on new year's day my wife and I found the sweetest stray kitty outside, so we've been handling that the past couple days. Poor baby isn't even chipped, so we're going to foster him through the shelter we work with and he'll find a good home. But it's been pretty hectic, so I apologize for the delay! Hopefully this chapter makes up for it - I've been planning some of this since the very start, so I'm really excited to finally have it out! Additionally, this chapter has a couple elements from the '03 anime, so please let me know if it's confusing or doesn't mesh well. And as always, enjoy!

* * *

The Sergeant took her back to HQ in a car, a surprising concession from Mustang who usually didn't provide much transportation. Once there, he led Lissa through the deserted halls with a distinct purpose to his steps, like he was…feeling very self-important with his orders. She couldn't imagine why. Nor could she figure out why the hell Mustang had dragged her down here so urgently this late at night, either, especially since she'd seen him earlier in the day. And if he wanted to apologize…well…he shouldn't be doing it just to her.

So then what was going on?

"In here, Cadet Caito," the Sergeant told her, finally opening a door and gesturing for her to step in. She did so immediately, not really concerned about where she might end up in Central HQ—but when the door snapped shut behind her, she felt a cold trickle of fear go down her spine.

"I'm sorry to drag you here so late, Cadet," Colonel Mustang told her softly.

Lissa took one step, and then another, her heart pounding in her throat. "Colonel… What is this?" she asked quietly. The room was mostly empty, just a small concrete room with a transmutation circle etched in front of a wooden desk… And at the center of that array sat a single golden chair, three-legged, defying physics as it stood upright.

Mustang inclined his head to his left, from his position to the right of the desk, and Lissa finally realized there was another person in the room.

Führer Bradley.

And not just him…but several other alchemists, seated behind the desk, staring her down like prey.

"I—Führer Bradley, sir," Lissa gasped, nearly stumbling over her own feet.

Bradley smiled benignly and gestured towards the chair. "Please, have a seat, Cadet Caito. You're quite an accomplished alchemist already—I have no doubts the chair will accept you."

 _I remember this… Ed talked about this chair from his state alchemy interview._

Slowly, her palms sweating underneath her gloves, Lissa crossed the last bit of space between her and the chair—and sat down. It held beneath her, not so much as shifting as she settled upon it. _Impossible… This is completely impossible…_ "Sir… May I ask…" Lissa swallowed hard. "What am I doing here?"

"I convened a special session just for you," the Führer told her. She felt that itchy, wriggling sensation swell and forced it back down. "It came to my attention in Dublith that you've demonstrated exceptional abilities in the field of alchemy, for many years now. You came to us when you were seven years old, correct?" He only waited for her to nod before continuing. "When I arrived back here in Central, I did some digging. Apparently, for the past three years now—nearly four, in fact—Fullmetal has been noting in every report that you should be allowed to take your state alchemy exams."

Lissa's face flushed bright red. "He's…a good friend, in that respect," she murmured. "He's helped me a lot over the years."

"I must say, three years is a long time to be stuck as an apprentice," Bradley continued smoothly. "And once I read Fullmetal's report of your fight with the creature Greed, it absolutely convinced me. I would have called you in earlier, Cadet, but I wasn't aware you'd arrived until this afternoon. This was the earliest I could manage, I'm afraid."

She swallowed hard, feeling her hands begin to tremble in her lap. "So I'm… You're testing me to…"

He practically grinned at her. "To become a state alchemist, yes."

 _Oh fuck._

"At this point, it's practically a formality—and we know so much about your abilities already that we'll be condensing the process just a tad. I hope that isn't a problem for you?"

"No, not at all, sir." Lissa shifted a bit uncomfortably on the chair. Gold wasn't exactly a soft surface. "May I ask how, exactly? With that much documentation on my skills, I wouldn't think I could surprise any of you very much, sir."

Bradley put pen to paper and began scratching something into his notepad. "We shall see, won't we, Cadet? Now." He glanced up at her again. "Unless you have any further questions…shall we begin?"

Lissa flicked her eyes to Mustang's impassible face, some of her earlier anger at him fading. She knew, just by his presence, that he had something to do with this. He _had_ to. But after all this time, all the years of Ed pestering about her taking her exams and her constant begging, pleading, explaining that she had nothing left to learn in the institution… Why _now_? Why this exact moment, after Greed and the chimeras specifically?

Something was…odd about it. She knew that much. But Lissa wasn't stupid enough to keep asking questions, so she just nodded at the Führer. Whatever it was…if it got her through this, _finally_ , she'd take it.

—

"He can't possibly have decided all this yet," Lissa argued, pacing back and forth in Mustang's office, refusing to look him in the eye. "I mean, did he have this already written up?! It took at least twenty-four hours to get Ed's handled and his was a special case anyway."

Mustang shrugged faintly. "So is yours."

" _No_ , it's not," she snapped irritably. "I'm just a trainee from the institution. There's nothing that special about me."

"Clearly the Führer thinks otherwise." Mustang heaved an exasperated sigh at her. "Why are you complaining, Lissandra? You got what you wanted."

"But I don't feel like I _deserved_ it," she groaned. "Look, why now? Why did he do this now?"

He lifted an eyebrow. "You impressed him. You should be proud of yourself, you know. He asked all of us to stay late just for this, and gave you a specifically-tailored abridged version of the exam as well, taking into account your past performances and Fullmetal's reports. Clearly, Führer Bradley decided this was overdue."

Lissa gritted her teeth as the Führer's parting words echoed in her head. _'I'll be sure to keep an eye on you—the first female state alchemist in a decade. And one of the most talented state alchemists in my ranks, too. Yes, I'll be following your career quite closely.'_ It hadn't sounded like congratulations—it sounded like a _threat_. And it chilled her, right down to her bones. What with the sense she had of him, similar to a homunculus but not quite identical, and the strangeness of being dragged here after hours just for this… She'd been singled out for a reason. And no matter how badly she wanted to just take what she was being given and run with it, now that she'd managed to calm down in the aftermath, all Lissa wanted to do was run as far as she could.

But that wasn't an option.

"Either you accept this, or you have to find another way to pay back your debt," Mustang reminded her quietly. "I know it isn't ideal for you—I know you would rather have a different choice in this. But you and I both know that given your current options, this is the best path for you. And…" He gave her a frustratingly perceptive look. "Any other path you might take would keep you away from Fullmetal, wouldn't it?"

"Shut up," she hissed, angry. "You have no right to talk about _any_ of that, not after—not after you _lied_ to us today."

She expected him to retaliate—not to wilt before her, slumping his shoulders and nodding weakly. "Yes. You're probably right," he admitted softly. "I apologize for keeping the truth from you and the Elric brothers. You should have been informed earlier."

Lissa scowled at him. "That doesn't make it better."

"No," Mustang agreed without hesitation. "I'm well aware of that." He slid the items on his desk across towards her, and beckoned with a tilt of his head. "You should take these, Lissandra. They're yours. I'm still your commanding officer, and I've already signed the paperwork—once you sign your papers, my orders will be enacted immediately."

"Orders?" she repeated, taking two steps towards his desk.

He nodded. "Yes. My orders officially assigning you as Fullmetal's partner. You're both still young, and you're only newly instated—it makes sense for you to continue working together."

Lissa breathed out a sigh of relief, a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. Mustang wasn't going to split her and Ed up. She'd be assigned as his _partner_ , an equal now instead of a trainee or apprentice… Equivalent to a Major herself, which was a bizarre thought. But…she got to stay with Ed. Wasn't that enough to make her accept this path, at least for now?

So, feeling as though she were signing her own death warrant, Lissa crossed the room and picked up both items. One, a sheet of paper and brand-new identification card sealed inside a large, flat envelope. And two… The silver pocket watch that identified her as a state alchemist.

She set the watch aside for a moment, her fingers stinging from the contact with the cool metal, and instead opened the envelope and slid its contents out. The ID card was simple, just a string of numbers and the state's seal, plus the insignia of a state alchemist. The paper, though, was her official certification—a letter signed by Führer Bradley, giving her full name and assigning her a second name as well, the one she'd carry as a state alchemist.

"Is…this some kind of joke?" Lissa breathed, tearing her eyes from the paper to gawk at Mustang.

He frowned. "What do you mean? No one's joking, Lissa."

She passed him the paper wordlessly, her fingers trembling all over again, heart pounding in her chest. "I didn't actually think he'd read all of Ed's reports," she admitted weakly. "That name… The boys joked around about giving it to me, and Ed put it in a report, just to try and screw with the system a bit… He wanted to catch someone's attention and get me out of this loop…"

"I suppose the Führer took a liking to it, then," Mustang told her, shrugging and handing the paper back. "It suits you."

Lissa traced her fingertip over the words, her state alchemist's name, suddenly dizzy and struggling to breathe. It was impossible. Why would that silly, stupid idea of the boys' actually _work_? How could this be real, any of it?

She signed the paper quickly, wanting to be finished with all this, completely ready to get the hell out of Central HQ. Then she slid it back into the envelope and set it aside, knowing Mustang would put it away in her file for her. It wasn't as though Ed carried his around. Finally, she forced herself to pick that damned pocket watch back up, turning it over in her hands, letting it warm beneath her palms as she studied it, trying to use its weight to make the whole evening seem real.

"I should go," she whispered. Lissa turned without a goodbye and headed for the door, hardly capable of forming a single thought, let alone a few words for Mustang.

He lifted a hand as she left. "Goodnight. Oh, and congratulations, Starlight Alchemist."

Lissa slammed the door behind her.

—

Lan Fan trailed her the whole way to the hotel. Lissa didn't so much as look up in her direction—she was much too distracted by the heavy weight in her pocket to wonder why the Xingese girl was following her. It was late by the time she got back, so late most of the lights in the guest rooms were off, only a couple people still lingering even though it had edged past midnight a while ago. She didn't imagine Edward and Winry were still awake, not at this time of night.

Lissa raked her hair back from her face and stepped into the lobby, dipping her head at the night desk clerk when he looked up to see who had come in. Usually she didn't get bothered too much, keeping weird hours, since as long as she didn't disturb anyone the hotel clerks didn't seem to mind her coming in late. To her surprise, though, he waved her over to the desk before she could walk away.

"My apologies for bothering you, Miss Caito," he began, looking a bit put off, "but your companion has been asleep in the lobby for several hours now… Would you mind waking him? We're getting complaints."

She gave him a baffled look. "Er…my companion?"

He nodded. "Mr. Elric, the one in the chair by the fireplace?" He pointed helpfully across the room. "I told him I could call the room when you returned, but he insisted on waiting."

Lissa's chest tightened as she turned and spotted Edward, sitting curled in an armchair by the fire, one that faced the front doors perfectly. He'd been…waiting on her. The whole time she was gone, she'd assumed that he'd be up with Al and Winry, probably a bit worried but with his brother at the very least, not… Not here by himself…

"I'm sorry," she murmured, turning back to the clerk. "I'll take him up."

He inclined his head. "Thank you very much, Miss Caito."

Lissa crossed the lobby and bent over Edward, taking a moment to watch him sleep—he seemed restless, forehead creased into a frown, his head at an uncomfortable angle leaned over on his hand. She'd worried him. She knew just from this position. It angled him so he could just rest his head on his hand and watch the doorway without having to move or hold his own head up. So he'd sat here, _alone_ , exhausted, waiting on her… It about killed her to see.

"Ed," she whispered, stroking her fingers through his bangs. "Wake up, sleepyhead… You can't be comfortable like that…"

His eyes fluttered open. "Liss? Y-you're back," he mumbled, sitting upright and staring at her. "Shit, where've you _been_? When you didn't come back earlier Al and I looked for you, but we couldn't find you… The clerk said you'd gone with some soldier but we didn't know what happened, we…" His cheeks went pink. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, ashamed. "I didn't mean to worry you… It's just… Mustang called me back to HQ and I didn't have time to leave a note, my escort was pretty insistent."

Ed furrowed his brow. "What the hell did that asshole want you for so late?"

She reflexively pressed her hand down against her right pocket, where she'd stored her new watch—unfortunately, that drew his gaze straight to it.

"What's that?" he asked softly. "Wait a second… _Lissa_ … Is—is that…"

Lissa slowly withdrew the pocket watch and held it out to him, nodding unsteadily. There was no hiding it now. "It is," she admitted. "Apparently after Dublith the Führer decided…that I should just…go ahead and take my exams. They pulled me in for a special session tonight."

"Oh, _fuck_." Ed sat forward quickly and lifted her hand, not actually taking the watch—instead he sort of cradled her hand in both of his to examine it. "They dragged you down there to…to make you take your _exams_? Just like that? The—interview and the demonstration and everything? I thought the written part alone took _hours_ , I don't understand…"

She shrugged faintly. "I've done so much practical work… And the Führer said he'd gone through your reports, too. He said it was _practically a formality_."

Suddenly Ed shot to his feet and took her shoulders, his golden-eyed gaze fierce and panicked. "Where are you assigned? Did Mustang—don't tell me the damned Colonel is sending you somewhere. I won't let him, I won't let any of them take you away from me," he told her vehemently.

Warmth blossomed in her chest. "You're so sweet," she whispered, tucking the watch away and taking his hands. "I'm not going anywhere, Ed."

He frowned so deeply. She wanted to trace her thumb across the furrow between his eyebrows and smooth it away. "Then…what exactly did he do? Is he still your commanding officer or… Shit, I'm so lost. I feel like I'm still asleep."

"You aren't still sleeping," she reassured him gently. "Mustang is still my CO, yeah. And he handed down my official orders tonight too." Lissa couldn't resist a grin when she said the words aloud—even with all the stress and the strange undercurrent attached, there was something so… _right_ about it all, something _satisfying_ she just couldn't shake. "From what he told me…Fullmetal's getting assigned a _partner_ instead of a trainee."

Ed mirrored her grin, his eyes sparkling now. "Oh, yeah? Who's my new partner, then?"

Lissa blushed under his gaze, but she didn't back down. "The first female state alchemist in a decade—the Starlight Alchemist."

His jaw dropped. "The Starlight— _wait_. Hold on. Bradley gave you the name Al came up with? The one I stuck in an addendum at the end of my report about the Fifth Laboratory?"

"That's the one," she confirmed, smiling. It still sounded unreal to her.

"Damn." Edward shook his head and pulled her into his arms, curling her tight to him. She felt the remnants of his fear in that embrace, the faint desperation, especially when he tucked his face into her shoulder and let out a rough sigh. "Well… It's nice to get some good news after today."

She rested her chin on his shoulder. "It is. Speaking of… How are Al and Winry doing?"

Ed released her a moment, only to wind his arm around her waist as he guided her towards the stairs, finally vacating the lobby. "Not the best… I barely got Winry to eat earlier. Al went in to sit with her for a while, until she fell asleep… She's really shaken up. We all are."

"It's awful," Lissa agreed softly. "I'm glad you guys looked after her, though."

His fingers tightened on her hip. "I was looking after you too, y'know. You still didn't eat, Liss. I saved you a little food up in the room… I didn't want you to not eat anything today."

She bit her lip, embarrassed he'd had to do that. If she'd asked to leave a note… Or not gone racing out of the hotel like an idiot… But it wouldn't do any good to voice those things. "Thank you," she murmured instead. "You didn't have to do that for me, Ed." Lissa sighed and traced her fingers around the outline of her pocket watch. "This is all so bittersweet, you know? To get this the day we found out that Hughes…" Her voice caught and she had to cut herself off or risk sobbing.

"I know," he sighed. "But… I think he'd be proud, Liss. It's like what Gracia said… We have to keep going, otherwise… Otherwise his death didn't _mean_ anything. And we can't let that happen."

She tapped her fingers against the embossed metal front of the watch. "Hopefully this will help us do just that. Technically it doubles our power, and our budget, which should make some kind of a difference at least."

Ed gave her a look that told her, unquestionably, he was recalling the debt she still owed to the state—but thankfully he didn't bring it up. "I'm sure it'll help, Liss. But we would've been able to keep going even if this hadn't happened. It's just…an extra boost, that's all."

"Well, I'll take it," she muttered. "I was sick of being an apprentice anyway."

They paused outside the boys' room—Lissa could've gone in and stayed in Winry's room, but she figured if the other girl had gotten to sleep then it was better not to disturb her. "Hey, Liss…" Ed touched her cheek lightly. "You deserve this, okay? I swear you do. I dunno why Bradley decided to do it now, but… You've deserved it for a long time."

Lissa nodded slowly. "Thank you," she whispered.

He smiled crookedly, and then pushed past the door and walked in. "Hey, Al, guess who showed back up?" he announced.

Al looked up from where he'd been sitting on the sofa. "Lissa!" He leapt up and crossed to her, almost crushing her in a hug. "We've been so _worried_ , where did you go? You were gone for hours, we didn't know what happened to you!"

"I'm okay, Al," she told him gently, patting his chest. "I got dragged back to HQ by Mustang for a, um…special session." Lissa twisted her mouth up. "I wish I could've negotiated for you, but I was kind of stuck in front of the Führer without any time to prepare, so… I'm sorry. I know we were gonna do it together."

He stared down at her in confusion. "Huh? The Führer?"

Lissa tugged out her pocket watch and displayed it for him. "Ta-da. I'm Amestris's newest state alchemist."

"What?!" Al hugged her _again_ , startling her. "But that's _amazing_ , Lissa! Don't apologize, okay? I'm just happy for you."

"Oh, and get this." Ed crossed the room and sank onto the bed he'd clearly designated as _his_ , beneath the window, kicking his boots off and tossing his cloak aside. "Apparently, the Führer read that addendum I made back after the Fifth Lab. He gave Liss the title of Starlight Alchemist, the one you came up with. Pretty cool, right?"

"Wait, really? He gave you that name?" Al asked, sounding kind of…awed.

Lissa nodded. "Yup. So you…aren't upset? I really did hope we could take our exams together, y'know…"

He shook his head insistently. "I swear I'm not. You deserve it, Lissa. Besides, until brother and I get our bodies back, it's not safe for me to try. I'm just happy you get to be a full state alchemist now and don't have to worry about getting stuck in that facility again, that's all."

"You're such a sweetheart, Alphonse," Lissa told him honestly, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Seriously, how the hell are people gonna handle you when you're back in your body?"

He giggled and waved her away, embarrassed. "Stop it, Lissa!"

"Nope, never." She grinned and crossed to her own bed, reclining back against the pillows wearily. "This day has been too damn long, hasn't it?" she asked aloud, not quite rhetorically.

" _Way_ too long," Ed agreed wearily.

She forced herself back up, noting with a little anxiety that Edward had already begun shedding clothes, and set her feet back on the floor. "All I wanna do is sleep now, honestly," she muttered, if only to distract herself.

But Al crossed his arms. "Nuh-uh," he denied, shaking his head. "Brother and I already agreed you have to eat before you go to sleep, Lissa."

"Oh, you guys just decided without me, huh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Not that she was really intending to argue, but still…

"We did," Ed told her firmly. "C'mon, Liss. You know it's better if you eat."

She sighed, but relented anyway, knowing they were right—and anyway, she didn't have the heart to argue with the boys. Not tonight. So she just accepted it, let them look after her a little, allowed herself the comfort for just the night. After that…she'd go back to taking care of them instead.

—

"Lissa…. Wake up, please…"

With a gasp, she jolted awake, feeling cool metal almost surrounding her—a stark difference from the heat she'd felt burning her skin only moments ago. "Alphonse," she breathed, and lifted a shaking hand to touch his familiar chestplate.

"Are you okay?" he asked her quietly. "You were crying in your sleep… I got worried…"

"Just…" She swallowed hard and looked up at him. It was past dawn, she noted, judging by the soft grey-blue light filtering in. "Just a nightmare, Al. I'm okay."

But he didn't move away from her. "Like the one on the train?" he pressed.

Lissa averted her gaze, a little shame trickling in. "Yeah," she admitted, shrugging. "Like that one." Similar—slightly different events, different moments, but it still felt the same. Like _memories_. Things she shouldn't remember and didn't even know if she _wanted_ to remember. "I'm okay, though, honest."

"Do you need me to get brother?" he edged, sounding uncertain now.

She forced a smile and shook her head. "No, just let him sleep. Thanks for waking me, though… I'd rather be up than stay trapped in those things."

Al shifted away then, his armor clanking faintly, and gingerly settled on the edge of the bed. "Do you wanna talk about it? I mean… Sometimes it helps brother to talk about whatever's bothering him. You never really say much, though. Not with things like this."

"It's…" She was going to say _no, it's all right_ , and dismiss him… But something in her heart cut her off. "I keep having these nightmares… Only… I don't think they're exactly nightmares, Al. I think they're _memories_ , from when I was a kid—before I came to Central. Originally, I thought I didn't remember anything of my parents, but now…" An image flashed in her head—her own arms, tiny and frail and littered with cuts. "Now I think I just blocked it out. I remember fire, and all this _pain_ … Cuts all over my body…" Lissa's throat clenched and she fell silent, fighting back a wave of tears.

His hand rested gently on her back, thumb stroking tiny circles. "I'm sorry," Al murmured. "That sounds awful, Lissa. I'm so sorry. Do you…really think it's your memories? Do you think your parents did all that?"

"I don't know," she admitted, shrugging. "I just know it's bad. Honestly, I…don't think I really want to remember it, if that's my past."

"Well, even if it _is_ your past, even if that stuff you're seeing is real…" Al draped his arm over her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze, comforting and sweet. "It's not gonna happen again, okay? We'd never let anybody do something like that to you, I promise."

It was such a simple thing, to promise that…but it made Lissa's eyes well with fresh tears, of a different sort this time. "Thank you, Al," she whispered, turning and resting her head on him. "That means so much to me, I can't even begin to explain…" She reached out with her senses, focusing on that familiar, gentle sense of him, and exhaled slowly as he rubbed her back. Al really was her family, her little brother… But sometimes he seemed like the most mature of all of them. It was astonishing how his mind worked, how well he handled things… She didn't think she could cope with half of what he did.

Lissa expected Al to encourage her to go back to sleep, but somehow he seemed to understand that wasn't going to be good for her… So instead he walked down to the lobby with her to grab breakfast, keeping up a steady stream of chatter and pulling her into an easy, light conversation just to distract her from the heaviness still lingering in her mind. It _worked_ , too. By the time they got back to the room, Lissa actually felt better, the nightmare finally taking its claws out of her brain.

Winry joined them shortly after Ed got up, and the mood remained subdued. Lissa settled onto Edward's bed, his legs tucked behind her while he lay facing the wall, brooding, lost deep in his thoughts. She didn't have the heart to try and shake him out of it yet. Instead she was trying to offer silent comfort, just by being there for him, staying close, reminding him she was there.

Across the room, Al sat polishing his own helmet, the only sound the faint _squeaking_ of cloth on metal.

"Here," Winry sighed after a bit, rising from the sofa and crossing to him. "Let me help you." She took out her own polishing cloth, from her automail gear, and set about the task without waiting for him to reply.

Lissa watched her for a moment, one hand straying back to brush against Ed's leg, just to remind him she was there. He hadn't moved in so long she could almost think he was asleep, if not for the edge of his scowl she could just barely see from her angle. She wanted to lay behind him and curl up, tuck herself in against his back like she'd done in South City… But she didn't dare right now.

"When you look close, you're all scratched up, aren't you?" Winry murmured. "You're having a rough time of it, huh?" She was trying… Lissa had to give her credit for that. "So, what have you got planned now?" She asked, turning to look at Ed.

Silence. Lissa gave Winry a helpless look.

"Well, Ed?" Winry pressed, still keeping her voice soft.

Slowly he lifted his automail, clenching and unclenching it, the metal clicking softly with the motion. "What _are_ we gonna do?" he wondered aloud. "What do you think?"

Winry turned and stared at him in shock, and Ed rolled over to see why she hadn't responded, giving her a look of bewilderment. "What's with the face?" he asked her dryly.

"I'm just surprised," Winry admitted. "You've never asked for my advice before."

That was true—Lissa was a bit surprised, but she understood the reasoning nevertheless. They were _lost_. Having an outside opinion could be really helpful.

Ed looked a bit ashamed. "Oh."

Considering it for a moment, Winry looked back at Al, tracing her fingers along the collar of his armor and then pressing her hand flat, covering a particularly bad scrape. "I'm scared, you know," she told him finally. "You and Al and Lissa have been off somewhere fighting and digging up information…" Her voice caught. "Information that could get you killed like Mr. Hughes. Whenever I think about that…it terrifies me."

Lissa stared down at her crossed legs, guilt swelling uncomfortably in her abdomen. She didn't often think about what it must do to Winry, being the one to stay behind while everyone else was off fighting and risking themselves…

"I mean, you could die. I'd still be here, and you'd just suddenly…not be there anymore." Winry sounded so, so deeply sad… It was difficult to hear. "Like… Like my mom and dad."

 _Oh, no._

"It's almost more than I can handle, thinking about that," she admitted softly. "Honestly, sometimes I wish you would just give this whole thing up."

Lissa dug her fingernails into her trousers. That would never happen. The boys wouldn't ever just sit down and accept it— _Ed_ would never, not until he'd exhausted every possible method of getting Al's body back… And even then he might not stop. That's just how he was.

"I do want you to get your bodies back," Winry amended, continuing, "but I also want you to stay alive and safe. It's just…" She sighed and bowed her head. "I don't know… Sorry." She finally turned back and gave Ed a miserable, apologetic look. "I'm not sure what I think you should do. I really don't know. I guess I'm not much help."

Awkward silence followed her declaration, until Al, rather wryly, pointed out that she was being awfully nice, and Winry complained about the jibe—complaints involving a wrench, and plenty of yelling.

"You know," Lissa murmured, glancing over at Ed for a moment, "I think…this is what it feels like to be part of a family, isn't it?"

He reached out and took her hand, squeezing down gently. "Yeah, Liss. It is."

She blushed and smiled at him. "I could get used to this."

—

Lissa stepped out of the bathroom with her wet hair thrown up in a towel, fully dressed since with everyone coming and going throughout the day, the door to the room was open more often than it was closed. She didn't particularly want the whole hotel to see her in her nightclothes. At the moment, though, the room was fairly deserted, with just Ed reclining on the sofa staring into his notebook thoughtfully. That damned thing. In three years, Lissa had never been able to so much as scratch the surface of his code—he encoded his alchemical notes as a travelogue, and it was completely useless to anybody else. She took comfort in the fact that Al had no idea what it meant either.

"You better not have used up all the hot water," Ed admonished her idly, flipping to the next page in his notebook.

She stuck out her tongue. "No, dummy. I used up _all_ of it, every drop in the hotel." Lissa crossed to him and nudged his legs aside to make room for herself before dragging his legs right back over her lap. It mirrored how she usually sat, but she didn't mind the opposite either. "What's got you so focused, huh? Need a wall to bounce ideas off?"

He glanced away from the page long enough to quirk a faint smile at her. "Always. I'm just trying to piece together how the hell this is all connected. The Philosopher's Stone, the homunculi and those ouroboros tattoos… Even the Führer. I can't connect the dots."

"Well, those two down in the Fifth Laboratory—assuming I'm right and they _are_ homunculi—were clearly trying to protect the secrets of how the stone was made," Lissa mused. "So it's safe to say they at least knew about it being created there, even if they weren't directly involved in the process itself."

He nodded, already having put that together. "That's my guess. And considering the lengths they went to just trying to hide the evidence… They have some investment in keeping it a secret. But _why_? And, beyond that, I can't figure out what they'd want to do with the stone."

"It's so shit that the Führer killed Greed," she lamented irritably. "With the right offer, he would've told us anything."

"Tell me about it," Ed muttered, glaring up at the ceiling fan. "I'm still pissed over that. We had a homunculus right in front of us, and the Führer _could've_ just taken him hostage… But he killed him. And that reeks of hiding something, if you ask me. But again—what was he hiding, and why? None of this makes any damn sense."

Lissa fiddled with the fabric of his trousers as she thought through everything they knew, which wasn't much, to be honest. "It just comes down to needing more information. We've been going around Amestris for three years looking for the stone, and we've made some headway…but all of the ground we've covered just leads us to the homunculi. So if you ask me, we need to start there. We need more information about homunculi, first and foremost. Understanding them better might help us figure out a game plan here."

"That's what I was thinking. Tomorrow we should head to the library, try and research more on homunculi—and how to create them, too, since they _are_ artificial humans. That's got to take a lot of power and alchemical ability to do, otherwise we'd have homunculi running around all over the place." Ed absently bit the end of his finger, biting at the edge of his nail and speaking past it with his teeth clenched. "At least it might give us a few leads on-"

" _Brother! Lissa!_ "

The door banged open and Al shoved past, nearly shattering the wood as the door rammed into the wall behind.

Ed rolled his legs off Lissa and pushed up to his knees, dangling his arms off the back of the sofa and giving Al a dry look. "Don't scare me like that," he muttered.

But Lissa was more concerned with Al's sort of…franticness. "What's up, Al?"

"Here." He thrust a newspaper at them. "Read the front page."

Ed frowned at the paper, but took it anyway. "What is it now?" he murmured, sitting back on the sofa and unfolding it, tilting it sideways so Lissa could see it too.

Her body went cold.

" _What_?!" Ed gasped. He began to read from the newspaper, his voice trembling as he spoke. "Second Lieutenant Maria Ross convicted of Brigadier General Hughes' murder?!"

"There's no way. No fucking way," Lissa insisted, shoving to her feet. "She's the one who _told_ us, I mean… She was so torn up… I know Ross, she's one of Alex's soldiers, she'd never do something like that. What the hell is going on?!"

Ed turned to her with a grim expression on his face. "I dunno. But we need to get to the bottom of this. _Now_."

The three left the hotel in a flurry, Ed stomping ahead on a warpath, Lissa and Al not far behind. They didn't quite believe Ross was capable—at least, Lissa didn't, not for a moment—but it was still…shocking. Even though it was late, she knew at the very least Mustang would still be in his office, so that was their goal. To find Alex or Mustang and find out what the hell was going on here, and why _Ross_ of all people was being convicted of Hughes' murder.

"Here, this is a shortcut," Ed muttered, turning off the main road and ducking left into an alleyway. "I just don't get it," he ranted angrily. "Ross? Really? After all she did for us, I just—I _can't_ believe it."

"Me either," Al told him firmly. "There's no way. But maybe we can vouch for her, like a character witness or something?"

Ed's face contorted just a bit further. "I hope so, Al."

The alleyway emptied out into another, wider back alley—but this one was distinctly…occupied.

"Lieutenant Ross?" Ed yelped, staring at her in shock.

Lissa peered over his shoulder—and immediately grabbed for Al's hand in fear. Ross stood behind _Barry the Chopper_ , with none other than Ling Yao behind his other shoulder, the three standing in a sort of bewilderment. Ling in particular looked guilty.

Ross's jaw dropped. "Edward? Alphonse? Lissa? What are you three doing here?!"

"What are you doing with _him_?" Al nearly demanded, pointing at Barry accusingly. He hadn't forgotten his identity, not for a moment. "And Ling too?!"

Ling rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Uh, hey, guys. What're you up to?"

Ed glared at him. "I could ask the same of you!"

Number Sixty-Six growled lowly. "Quit chattering, we don't have time for this!" he snapped, frustrated. He lunged forward, going straight for Al, swinging his cleaver madly.

Ed snarled low in his throat and yanked Lissa back as Al flipped backwards, midair, evading a swipe from Sixty-Six's cleaver. "Why you-!"

Yet the armor-bonded soul held his ground. "All right, sweetheart," he muttered, pointing off to his right and indicating yet another offshoot, "take that back alley and run straight to the warehouse district. The darkness oughta hide you."

"Lieutenant, wait!" Lissa cried, clutching at Ed's jacket anxiously.

"You can't go yet! Tell us about Hughes!" he demanded. She could hear the desperation in his tone as well.

Ross paused, looking back at them indecisively for a moment.

But Sixty-Six urged her on. "Get going!" he ordered fiercely. "If the MPs show up, they'll shoot you on sight!"

Ross looked pained—then she turned, anguished, and raced off down the alley.

"Lieutenant Ross!" Ed yelled, but it was in vain.

Sixty-Six moved to cover her retreat. "Stay back!" he warned.

"No, wait!" Al begged. "Lieutenant Ross!"

But she was already gone, out of reach by then. Lissa fixated a glare on Sixty-Six. "What the hell are you doing here?" she snarled. "What were you doing with Lieutenant Ross?!"

Ed looked at her, frowning. "Wait, you know this guy?"

"He's from the Fifth Laboratory," she explained tersely, narrowing her eyes at the former guard. "But before that, he was a serial killer called—called Barry the Chopper." Lissa reached out and took Ed's wrist as she saw fear crawling over his face, his eyes widening… For a moment he was that scared twelve-year-old again, until he rounded on Sixty-Six and bared his teeth at him.

" _You_ ," he hissed. "Tell us what you're doing with Ross!"

 _BOOM!_

The night sky exploded with orange light, a column of smoke and fire rising from just a few streets over.

Ed whipped his gaze up to it immediately. "What was _that_?!"

Sixty-Six looked up as well. "Looks like they got her," he murmured.

Jerking free of Lissa, Ed rushed past the convict, dodging his swipe and yell to stop, and took off down the alley where Ross had gone. Lissa cursed and ran after him, alchemy lending her the speed she needed to get around Sixty-Six and go chasing after Ed.

"Ed, wait!" she shouted, making a grab for his jacket and missing as he ducked down a different alley. "Just hang on a second!"

Lissa rammed into him when he suddenly froze in place, both stumbling forward a step. The smell of charred flesh hit her first—then her senses filled with the burning, acrid feeling of pure rage. She looked over Ed's shoulder, terrified of what she'd find but unable to look away and pretend this wasn't happening.

 _Mustang…_

 _Standing over…over…_

A body.

Slowly, Mustang turned, eyeing them coldly over his shoulder. "Hey there…Fullmetal," he greeted quietly.

"What happened here?" Ed demanded sharply. When Mustang didn't reply, didn't so much as move, he growled and yelled, "What happened here, Colonel? Tell me!"

Mustang adjusted his glove, the transmutation circle inked on the back standing out in the dark.

Lissa felt sick. Could he have… Would he have really… But he and Hughes were so _close_ , best friends, utterly inseparable to everyone who saw them… If he believed that Ross had done it, then… Then he really might have…

In front of her, Ed had come to the same conclusion, reading it in Mustang's silence. "Why, Colonel" he asked quietly, dangerously. "Why was Hughes murdered? Why would Second Lieutenant Ross…"

Suddenly he lunged forward, too fast for Lissa to catch him, and grabbed Mustang by the lapels. "Why didn't you say anything?!" he snarled.

Mustang's eyes narrowed. He regarded Ed a moment, his expression harsh—then he slammed his fist into the side of Ed's face, so hard it knocked him all the way around. He landed hard, directly on his chest, too stunned to catch his fall.

Lissa felt rage burn hot in her chest.

"You threaten a superior officer?" Mustang demanded sharply. "You forget yourself, Elric!"

Ed picked himself up off the ground, his expression haunted, the spot on his jaw already turning red from the hit—then he spun and went for Mustang again, lost to his own anger.

"Brother, don't!" Al cried, rushing in and catching him at the last second.

"I'm gonna tear you apart!" Ed screamed, thrashing against his brother's hold—but Al was too strong for him, knew how to pin his arms, and kept him back securely.

Al shook his head fiercely. "No! I won't let you!"

"This bastard just killed Ross!"

The realization made Al's head snap up. " _What_?! He did?!" As Mustang walked away, Al found his voice, asked the question in Lissa's own throat. "How could you do that, Colonel?!"

Mustang paused, but didn't turn back. "Maria Ross was a fugitive. Our orders were shoot to kill. So I did," he explained bluntly.

"That's all you have to say?!" Edward demanded, finally getting Al to release him but staying in place this time.

Lissa took a step forward, and then another, and another, bypassing the two and coming to stand just a few feet behind Mustang. "Ever since I came here," she began, her voice trembling though she wasn't close to tears. She wasn't close to anything but pure, blind _rage_. "Ever since I was a little girl…you've been interfering in my life. You refused to let me leave, _you_ kept me in that facility, you prevented me from taking my exams when I was twelve, when I was thirteen, fourteen…" She clenched her fists at her sides and screamed, "Fuck you! What the hell kind of person _kills_ someone in cold blood like that?! She wasn't an alchemist, dammit, she couldn't protect herself! Why the hell do you take weak, defenseless people who can't say a word to save themselves and _try to ruin their lives_?!" Her breath hitched in a dry sob, and Lissa realized she was trembling all over, her teeth chattering, every inch of her shivering with this horrible all-encompassing wrath. "I hate you," she snarled. "I _hate_ you! I wish I'd never met you!"

Mustang stood through her tirade, immobile—like it didn't mean anything to him. And when she fell silent, sank to her knees right there in the alley, only then did he look back at them. "If you're finished… About Hughes' death…" He was… _ignoring_ her… Ignoring everything she'd said like it didn't mean a damn thing! "I apologize for hiding it." Where was the man who showed _true_ pain yesterday, who admitted his own fault, showed actual _regret_ for his actions?! "But you do not argue against orders, or ask for explanations. Just follow them. That's what it means to be a _soldier_."

With that, he turned and walked out of the alley, ending the conversation.

Lissa sensed the boys behind her, but didn't turn to look at them. "I actually believed he cared," she whispered, almost laughing. She felt unhinged, shattered beyond repair. "I let myself think he was so focused on me because he…actually cared about me. I'm such a fucking idiot. He never cared. He just wanted another subordinate."

She felt something warm on the back of her head, moments before Edward pulled her in, bringing her against his chest and holding her tightly. " _We_ care," he told her softly. "Al and I do. You've got us, Lissa."

And it meant the world to her… But right then, Lissa felt as though she'd lost a family member, one of the few people she'd had in her life since her parents died… And there was no filling that spot, not truly. There was nothing quite like the presence Colonel Roy Mustang had created in her life—both older brother, mentor, and also superior, her commanding officer of sorts. He'd carved out a space for himself whether she'd wanted it or not, refused to give her the option to do anything but accept his presence. And though she'd disliked him plenty of the time…it wasn't _all_ bad, no matter what she tried to tell herself. Especially when she was little. When she was still in single digits, scrawny and petulant and miserable at the facility…there had been times he'd bent rules, broken protocol for her, tried to make her life better. _He'd_ gotten her transferred to a different room when her old bunkmate slammed her head against the bedframe. _He'd_ let her sleep in his own bed while he did paperwork in the front room until she felt safe to go back, even if he gave her a hard time about it.

No… There was nothing to fill the gap he would leave in her life. No matter how hard she tried to pretend otherwise.


	24. From the East and West

So...I'm alive! Shockingly. No excuses, just a depression pit that took me a long time to break out of. I have NO intention of abandoning S&S though, I have put too much of my heart and soul into this to give up now. Hopefully I'm back on my feet enough to stick to regular updates again. (Also I've been very into SnK/AoT recently so if anyone here also likes that...be on the lookout.) Aaaanyway, I'll shut up now and get on with the story. Hopefully I'll have close to a double-update for you to make up for the long delay! So, please enjoy and thank you to anyone who's stuck with it despite me vanishing!

* * *

"I'm truly sorry for not telling you about Brigadier General Hughes' death sooner," Alex apologized quietly.

Lissa shook her head. She was glad he was there—she'd suffered enough losses that night already, and it was…a bigger relief than she cared to admit when he'd come down to the coroner's with them. "We understand," she told him, speaking for the boys as well. She knew they didn't blame him for it. "It's…difficult to say something like that."

Beside her, a tremor ran through Ed, and he looked down at the floor in distress. "It's my fault," he whispered.

Alex looked down at him sadly. "Don't be so hard on yourself. His murder wasn't your doing, Edward. That isn't a burden you need to carry."

Lissa reached up and slid her hand underneath the back of Ed's jacket, resting her palm along the base of his spine as the doors to the morgue opened and the doctor in charge of the autopsy stepped out. Her heart was in her throat. So much of her wished, so very desperately, that something was wrong here… That it _wasn't_ Ross. Even now, she couldn't summon up enough hatred towards Mustang to have entirely given up on him yet. It just made her hate herself all the more.

"Is everyone here, then?" the doctor asked, a bit gruffly.

Alex looked up at him like he'd been startled. "Dr. Knox. You…have the results, then?"

The other MPs lingering around gathered while the doctor flipped through his notes, confirming what he'd found even as he delivered the news. "Her body was almost completely destroyed," he began, his tone clinical. "But judging from what little dental work remained, I was able to conclude that this is indeed Maria Ross."

 _That's it then… He really did it. He killed her._

"It's an awful thing you did. Turning a beauty like her into a pile of charcoal. You must have held quite a grudge against her…" Dr. Knox turned to the right, his gaze bordering on disgusted. "Didn't you, Colonel?"

Mustang scarcely looked up, seated on a bench separate from the others. He knew he wasn't welcome in their circle.

"Is the vengeance as sweet as you imagined it?" Knox pressed derisively.

Yet Mustang just looked away. Lissa thought she might throw up.

Knox scoffed and turned, walking down the hall. "The famous hero of the Ishvalan War, going this far against a little girl. It makes me sick."

A little girl.

That's all Lissa was, too.

Her hand slipped away from Ed's back as cold, visceral fear clawed at her insides. If she were ever forced to choose between Ed and Al, and her orders… It wouldn't be a question. She would _always_ choose the boys, always. No hesitation. Yet if that turned her against Mustang…she had to wonder… Would he do the same to her? Would he burn her to charcoal without so much as a shred of remorse? The man who could do the same to Lieutenant Ross and not even show the tiniest speck of _guilt_ … Surely he could incinerate her and not lose a moment's sleep.

Alex crossed to Mustang then, his face contorted in agony. "Colonel… Please allow me to apologize…for one of my own officers' actions," he began, his voice pained, tight, wavering with emotion. "I could never have imagined that Second Lieutenant Ross would commit such a heinous murder. She was so straightforward and earnest… So compassionate… A truly fine officer." Alex sighed heavily and slumped onto the nearest bench, overwhelmed.

 _She was… Ross was sweet, her soul was good… She_ _wouldn't_ _do those things… What motivation would she possibly have for murdering Hughes? It doesn't make sense, none of it…_

Mustang regarded him for a moment, his mouth a thin line. Then he turned away as though he couldn't bear to look any longer. "Fatigue seems to be getting the best of you, Major," he observed softly. "Perhaps you should take some leave. Back east, where I was… It's a nice place. None of the big city noise…" He eyed Alex again. "And lots of beautiful women."

With that last horrible, insensitive parting comment, Mustang turned and strode off down the hall, leaving them behind.

Ed snarled and lashed out, kicking the nearest trash can with his automail leg.

"Brother…don't," Al whispered sadly. He couldn't seem to muster up the energy to stop him, though. "We should be getting back… Winry will start to worry about us."

"Yeah," Ed agreed softly. They both turned to go, but Lissa was still frozen in place, hardly able to breathe, let alone make her legs work. It could've been her. It still might be. Now…she was officially his subordinate, under his control. If he decided, he could ship her anywhere he chose—assign her to any task he wanted. _That's what it means to be a soldier_ , he'd reminded her and Edward. Following orders, never dissenting…

The pocket watch at her hip felt heavier than she could've imagined.

She flinched as something touched her hand—but it was just Ed's fingers, brushing her palm gently. "Come on, Liss," he encouraged softly. "Al's right, we should go."

"Yeah," she agreed. But still, her legs didn't cooperate.

Ed gave her a crestfallen look, and the pain in his eyes reflected her own. He understood. He knew what she was struggling with—for they were both in the same exact position now. "I know," he whispered, rising onto his toes and resting his forehead against hers. "I know, Lissa. But it won't be like this forever, I swear to you."

"I hope not," she admitted quietly.

He kissed her forehead, right in front of Al, but it was so much about comfort, about reassurance, that she knew it wouldn't seem out of place. "I _promise_ , okay? But for now…we just need time, I think. All of us do."

She nodded slowly. He was right—time was all she could think of, to make this ease. So when he took her hand and pulled her, she followed this time, placing all her trust in Ed. Lissa had to believe he and Al would stand by her—because without them… Without them she had _nothing_ , absolutely nothing to stand on.

Back at the hotel, they brought Winry into their room and shared the events of the night with her. She was shocked, though she only knew Mustang peripherally, unsettled by the entire thing… And the four passed the night awake, sitting together. Lissa had Edward's head in her lap, though she didn't recall when he'd lain down like that, but that was the nature of staying up all night… It screwed with the mind, no matter how alert she felt.

With his gaze distant and his eyes half-lidded, Lissa found herself in the unique position to study his face… Something she didn't get to do, not like this. Sitting so close, she could see all the faint scars, the remnants of old fights… He still had that scar above his right eyebrow, from the Fifth Laboratory. It kept reopening so much she wondered if it'd ever heal.

And on his left cheek and jaw…she could see faint purplish bruising from when Mustang struck him. Right then, she swore to herself she'd pay the injury back, insubordination or not.

Someone knocked on the door, startling her out of her thoughts. Ed sat up, scowling a bit, and rose from the sofa to go check on it. "This better be good," he muttered. "It's too early for bullshit." Still visibly cross, he swung the door open and all but demanded, "Yeah, who is it? What do you-"

But he cut himself off with a yelp as he beheld Alex, standing there with an unfathomable expression on his face—and his left arm drawn back, fist curled.

Lissa shot to her feet as the blow landed, not on Ed's body but on his _automail_ , directly on his right arm. He went skidding down the hall and out of sight, and she rushed out after the two, furious and baffled. "Alex, what the hell was that for?!" she demanded of him angrily. "Haven't we been through enough crap tonight?"

Alex picked Ed up by the back of his jacket, and began to bend his automail back and forth almost experimentally with his other hand. "Hm, this is no good. No good at all," he mused, as though he hadn't heard her. "Your automail seems to be broken."

Ed raised an eyebrow as Alex set him down again. "Um…okay…"

"Yes, this is a serious situation indeed!" Alex bellowed, giving a firm nod. "We'll have to repair it at once. There's no time to waste." He took on a rather imperious look. "Allow me to escort you and your partner to Resembool for repairs."

Lissa gaped at him. "To Resembool? Both of us?"

"Um, Major… What's up? Are you feeling okay?" Ed asked dryly.

Winry and Al peered out the hotel room door, both looking equally confused. "What was that?" Winry muttered.

"You're going back home to Resembool?" Al asked, baffled.

Ed shrugged helplessly. "I have no idea what he's talking about, Al!"

Undeterred, Alex marched up to Al and stuck his face right up almost against the helmet. "And you, Alphonse Elric… You would stand out too much, so you shall remain here in Central."

"Uh, okay," Al agreed warily.

"Wait a second, Alex, can you at least tell us-" But Lissa cut herself off with a startled yelp as Alex bypassed _every_ layer of politeness and scooped her up underneath his arm, simply carting her off while he dragged Ed behind him, going on about train tickets and how they needed to hurry. When they reached the stairs, Alex lifted Ed the same way, tucking him underneath his opposite arm like a disobedient terrier or something. It was so _mortifying_.

"Cut it out, Major!" Ed complained irritably. "Put us down!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Alex told them, his voice going very solemn out of nowhere. "These are my orders. From _him_."

 _Him?_

Well, that was ominous. Lissa peered across at Edward, as trapped as she was, and exchanged a bewildered look. If it had been anyone, _anyone_ else from the military, they both would've been fighting back tooth and nail, using alchemy, hand-to-hand, whatever tools they had available… But this was Alex. Not only would that be useless…he was the last person who'd hurt them. Right?

"So, what are we betting on here?" Lissa asked, hopping off the train to land on the platform beside Ed. "Are we actually getting kidnapped, or is this an elaborate scheme to make you cut your hair?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "Ugh, bite me. I'd prefer a kidnapping."

Lissa grinned and tugged at his braid, unperturbed. Despite herself, she was feeling…lighter. Alex had been stoic on the ride down, burying his nose in a book and refusing to answer any questions—so Ed and Lissa had amused themselves, which entailed a strange mixture of shop talk, what she thought might be his form of _flirting_ , and positing theories for why Alex had dragged them all the way out to Resembool. She was using it as an excuse to rib Ed, but they'd talked about a couple genuine theories, most revolving around information too sensitive to even be discussed within the bounds of Central City. It would explain the feigned damage to Ed's automail, the one excuse guaranteed to yank them both out of the city…

Except for the fact that _Winry_ was still in Central. But, well. Details.

"Bite me?" she repeated, smirking. "Why, Ed. I'm surprised at you."

His cheeks reddened. "Shut up."

Lissa just laughed as he rushed ahead, chasing after Alex, and jogged to catch up with them. She didn't have her usual leather jacket, leaving her in a lilac tank top and black trousers, but at least she still had her gloves—Ed didn't have his red cloak, either, which admittedly made them blend in better. Part of her wondered if that was purposeful. Still, it made him easier to lose in a crowd, so she latched onto his wrist before he could get too far.

"Are you _ever_ gonna tell us what's going on?" he asked Alex, exasperated. "This is starting to feel a little too much like a kidnapping."

"Really," Lissa agreed, shrugging. "You did take us to the middle of nowhere."

As they walked away from the station, Alex _finally_ broke his endless silence. "I haven't been fully informed on the details," he admitted. "My only orders were to retrieve the two of you and rendezvous here."

Ed scoffed. "Rendezvous? With who, exactly?"

Further up the lane, a man in a civilian suit with a suitcase beside him rose from where he'd been sitting on the low rock wall—and _saluted_. "I'm glad you made it all right, Major Armstrong, sir!" Then, dropping the salute and grinning, he added to Ed, "Hey. Sup, big guy?"

"Breda?" Lissa gasped, while Ed simmered with rage at the height jab. She jogged up to greet him, not angry with Mustang's men just because of their association with him. "What's going on here?"

Breda grinned at her. "Oh, hey, Cadet. Or—guess I should call you Starlight now, huh?"

Lissa wrinkled her nose and waved him off. "Ugh, please, no. Just Lissa. Seriously, though, why did you guys drag me and Ed all the way out here? We're not stupid, we know it's not for automail repairs. Winry was still in Central, she could've handled it."

"Though… I might actually need that tune-up," Ed muttered, giving Alex a sharp glare.

Breda picked up his suitcase and waved for them to follow him. "Come on. You want answers, they're gonna be this way."

Lissa gave Ed a thoughtful look as he stepped up beside her, communicating in just a few short glances. "Sure," she agreed finally, threading her arm around Ed's and grinning. "We'll bite, I guess. Lead the way."

"Not like we have any other choice if we wanna know what the hell's going on," Ed muttered.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for them to start actually being handed down substantial answers. But nothing, _nothing_ could've prepared them for it. Lissa found she was actually glad Alex hadn't said a damned word… She wouldn't have believed him anyway.

No…there wasn't a chance Lissa would have believed they were leaving the damn country.

As Ed continued repeating, like his personal mantra, _hot_.

Very fucking hot.

It was one thing to read about how bitterly, overwhelmingly hot a desert was—but it was another thing entirely to _live_ it, to sit under that omnipresent heat and feel like your whole body was going to cook alive. Lissa decided, within the first few hours, that she hated the desert. When Breda and their guide, a Xingese man named Mr. Han, had explained they were going east, she'd almost been excited. How naïve. The desert was hell, riding a horse was hell, it was all _hell_.

"Cheer up, Edward," Alex called to him brightly. "It isn't all that bad!"

Ed glared at him. "Well excuse me for having _metal limbs_ attached to my skin! I'm _frying_ over here!"

Lissa frowned at him worriedly. "Shit, Ed. That's right… Even covered your automail is just gonna keep taking in the heat." She glanced towards the front of their little column, but Mr. Han showed no signs of even slowing—so she tugged on one side of her horse's reins and guided it in closer to Ed. From there, she could see the redness in his face and _feel_ the heat simmering off him, not with her extra senses but purely with her alchemical ones, the heat exciting the air around his right arm and left leg. "Okay," she announced, reaching into her sleeves and tugging her gloves off to stick into her pocket. "Give me a second… I'm not used to doing this at such a distance."

"Wait, what are you…" Ed trailed off as the air around his body sparked blue, tendrils of alchemical energy streaking from Lissa's outstretched fingers and surrounding him. She focused on the particles around him, the heat trapped in his automail, and began to rearrange the very air around him, channeling that heat up and out.

He let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping. "Holy shit. _Holy shit_. That's _so_ much better, Liss. I seriously thought I was gonna cook for a second there."

Lissa grinned and let up on her energy. "It'll build back up, though… Just let me know when it starts to get too uncomfortable again and I'll help, okay?" She reached across towards him, catching his eyes just sparkling at her as he reached out and met her in the middle, his fingers brushing hers.

"Man," Breda sighed, shaking his head. "You just keep getting better and better, don't you, kid? This stuff is all crazy to me."

"I haven't seen you use your alchemy that way before," Alex noted curiously. "It does seem as though you've continued to improve and expand your skillset, Lissa. Excellent work."

She wrinkled her nose at the praise. "I'm just getting creative, that's all."

"Whatever it is, I'll take it if it keeps me from boiling alive," Ed laughed, his whole demeanor lifting without the threat of his automail burning him looming over his head. Even though it wasn't an easy transmutation, by any means, she'd do it a hundred, a thousand times over, until she keeled over from exhaustion, if it meant making Ed smile like that again.

Up ahead, she heard Breda ask, sounding a bit exhausted. "Mr. Han, how much further do we have left?"

"We've almost made it," Mr. Han told him. It sounded like the chiming of damned bells to Lissa. "Look, you can see the ruins ahead." He lifted a hand and pointed, directly along their path, and she squinted against the sunlight to see whatever he was indicating.

Sure enough, through the shimmering midday heat, Lissa could see a series of stone ruins, getting closer every second. "Wait a minute… Ruins?" She looked round at Ed in shock. "We're going to Xerxes?"

"Yup, the very same," Mr. Han confirmed.

Ed let out a slow breath. "Wow. Xerxes. Weird, I never thought we'd bother to come out this far. How long should it take us to get there?"

Their guide shrugged faintly. "Mh, a few hours, I'd say."

A few _hours_. Lissa bit back the urge to groan. That was gonna be a long damn few hours, out in this relentless heat.

And sure enough, she was right. On the way there, while the sun beat down overhead, she expended about as much energy as she dared just keeping Ed from being in active pain—he tried to hide it a couple times, but she could sense when the heat trapped in his automail got to be too much and interfered against his protestations. By the time they rode into Xerxes, or what was left of it, Lissa was beginning to feel almost faint with the energy expenditure.

But it was worth it. She _knew_ it was worth it.

As they rode through the ruins, heading for some unknown destination further in, Lissa got a burst of _familiar_ before someone leapt down into their path. "Took you long enough," muttered Fu, one of Ling's own bodyguards.

"Wait, _you're_ here?" Ed asked, looking at him in shock. "The hell is so important out here in Xerxes anyway?"

Fu grunted. "Hmph. You'll see soon enough." He turned and strode off then, apparently not caring to share any further information. "Come on, camp's just a bit further in. We've got supplies and plenty of water to go around."

 _Water._ The thought of water was enough to spur Lissa on. She'd imagined bottles or canteens, certainly, but the goddamned _fountain_ of water just sitting in the middle of the clearing into which they emerged was the best thing she'd seen in a year, she really thought. Ed seemed to agree. He jumped right off his horse, stripped down to his boxers, and leapt right into the circular pool, vanishing under the surface immediately.

Lissa slid down off her own horse, her legs protesting, and grabbed the reins of Ed's abandoned horse before it could go wandering off. "Always cleaning up his messes," she muttered, smiling. She turned to pass the reins off to Alex, figuring he'd know what to do with the horses… Only to see him grinning at her in the most knowing way. "Don't say a word!" she grumbled, and shoved the reins into his hands.

"Hey, Liss!" Ed stuck his head up long enough to flag her down. "C'mon, it feels fucking _great_ in here!"

She laughed and stood at the edge of the fountain, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, not so much, Ed. I can't exactly go around in my skivvies like you can. Well, okay, I _could_ , but it's more risqué since less of my ass is covered."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Lame."

Lissa giggled and leaned against the edge, yanking her boots and socks off to shake the sand out. "Insult me all you want, but I— _NO!_ "

But her vehement denial was cut off by an indignant shriek as he yanked her right in, grabbing her around the middle and dragging her down with him. Lissa pushed to her feet and glared at him through her sopping wet hair, trying to keep _some_ form of dignity. "Edward Elric, you smarmy little shit!" she yelled, while he just laughed and laughed. " _All_ my clothes are freaking soaked now!"

He smirked up at her and waved his hand. "It'll dry. C'mon, loosen up, huh? I didn't burn to death, we survived the _desert_ …"

She sniffed and went to turn away, watching his expression fall out of the corner of her eye. He really thought he'd upset her, didn't he? Letting him stew for a minute, Lissa bent over the edge of the little fountain or well or whatever it was, as though she was looking for something to grab onto in order to get out. "Loosen up, huh?" she repeated. "Fine."

Lissa spun around, watching gleefully when Ed's eyes widened as she dunked _his_ clothes right under the water. "Okay, I can do that!"

He stared at her for a moment, jaw dropped—and then launched forward, tackling her into the water. "Not fair!" he complained, scrabbling to pick up his clothes even though it was already much too late. "My automail's gonna be all wet forever then!"

She grinned and pulled him into her, freeing the clothes from his hands. "Dummy. I can separate out the hydrogen and oxygen molecules." Lissa realized, a moment too late, that her shirt had ridden up in the scuffle—and as she tugged Ed in close, they pressed together skin on skin, something that felt so…so _intimate_ there in the water.

Lissa released him immediately, hoping he hadn't noticed her slip, and pushed to her knees. "How's your arm and leg?" she asked instead of admitting anything had happened.

Ed swallowed visibly. "Uh—they're fine. You saved my ass out there, Liss. Thank you."

She beamed at him, pleased with herself. "Don't worry about it. Hey, we're supposed to be partners now, right? That's what partners do."

"Yeah," he agreed softly, resting back on his hands and smiling at her. "I guess you're right."

They climbed out of the water soon after, and Lissa made good on her word earlier, obligingly drying out their clothes and helping Ed with his automail too. With that finished, he shook his tank top out, clearing it of sand and any water she might've missed, and Lissa caught herself just… _staring_ at the muscles in his abdomen. Had he…toned down even more since the last time she'd been this shameless? Or was she just…that much more lost to him?

"So this is Xerxes, huh?" he mused, looking at the ruins around them. "Looks just like the fable described it."

Fu turned to him curiously, drawn out of his conversation with Alex, Breda, and Mr. Han. "Did you say a fable?" he asked, maybe a bit intensely, his interest piqued.

"Oh, I know the one," Lissa realized, forcing herself to stop gawking. "About the Eastern Sage, right?"

Ed nodded his confirmation. "That's it. It's the story about the origin of alchemy in Amestris. It claims the entire kingdom of Xerxes was destroyed in a single night. And that the only survivor wandered into Amestris shortly afterwards. He was the one who went on to spread the science of alchemy."

Fu regarded him a moment, looking thoughtful. "How interesting," he mused. "We have a similar legend in Xing about a drifter from the west. It's said that his teachings were combined with our ancient techniques to form the alkahestry we practice today."

"And alkahestry's primarily used for medical needs, isn't it?" Ed clarified.

"Yes," Fu confirmed for him. "He guided the process. And we greatly revere him. We know him as the Western Sage."

Ed opened his mouth to speak—only to let out a little hiss and cringe away, shifting his right shoulder uncomfortably. Lissa moved to his side immediately. "You can't keep this out in the direct sunlight for too long," she told him, taking his shirt and draping it over his shoulder for a moment to at least take his port out of the sun. "Here, let me just…"

A burst of blue energy whirled around his arm, crackling, and the tension faded from his face as Lissa altered the temperature.

Fu's eyes followed her every move. "How strange," he murmured.

"Strange?" she repeated, standing up from where she'd bent down to retrieve the rest of Ed's clothes, since he'd only gotten his trousers on before they'd been distracted by legends. "What's strange, Mr. Fu?"

He gestured at Ed's arm. "Your alchemy. The way you manipulate the air, and the individual particles… It seems to take influence from alkahestry."

Lissa frowned at him and shook her head. "That's…not possible, though. I've never studied alkahestry, only alchemy. And I've been able to work with small elements since I was a little girl—we call it intangible elements in Amestris, but it's still just…alchemy, that's all." She turned her hands over and displayed the inked backs to him, shrugging. "I use alchemic transmutation circles to activate it, too."

"Hm…" He leaned in and examined her tattoos for a moment. "I'm no alkahestrist… But I know what alkahestry _feels_ like, in comparison to pure Amestrian alchemy. And yours does _not_ feel pure. Perhaps you have Xingese ancestry. That could account for it."

"Xingese ancestry?" Lissa resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "That's gotta be rare."

 _Though… Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu all feel…weirdly familiar to me. Still, maybe that's just because of what Fu sensed, the weird way my alchemy presents. It isn't alkahestry, though, or it wouldn't be activated with Amestrian-alchemy transmutation circles._

With Ed safely tucked under his tan traveling cloak again—and everyone else, but Lissa was mostly concerned with him—their group set off through the ruins once more, going even deeper this time. Lissa was beginning to feel almost desperate to know what the hell they were doing out here, with such a strange assortment of people. It had to be important…but what _was_ it?

"So, wait… That Sage guy you were talking about, Fu… The _west_ in his title is supposed to refer to here? Is that what you were saying?" Breda asked as they walked, his investigator's mind following the thought process from before.

Fu nodded. "It is believed so, yes."

They passed into a slightly more _whole_ building, with a high, arched ceiling still somewhat intact. Breda was still on his subject, though, refusing to let it go entirely. "But if Xerxes was such a highly advanced society, how were they wiped out in a single night?"

It was a good question, Lissa thought, sharing a poignant look with Edward.

"It could very well just be a legend," Fu admitted, shrugging.

Lissa sensed when Ed stopped moving and paused beside him, following his gaze to an enormous stone wall etched with designs. At first she thought it was decorative, but… "Ed," she murmured, touching his shoulder lightly, "doesn't that look like…"

"A transmutation circle," he confirmed lowly. "Yeah, I thought so too."

"But what would-"

"What are you two gawking at?!" Fu demanded irritably, from up ahead. "C'mon! You don't want to get misplaced in here!"

Lissa frowned up at the array. "Later," she suggested, tracing her hand down and taking Ed's in hers, her fingers sliding between his. "Okay? We'll come check it out later on."

He nodded firmly, and they hurried away from the spot to catch back up.

Their group went deeper and deeper into Xerxes, traversing the ancient, deserted city with a clear path—Lissa just didn't know _where_ they were going. It was a big place, Xerxes, bigger than it seemed on a map. And honestly, being this far in was kind of daunting when she considered how long they'd been walking, and in a fairly straight path, too.

"I wonder where they're taking us," Lissa murmured to Ed.

He shrugged faintly. "Dunno. Nothing to do but stick with it, I guess."

"Edward? Lissa?"

Lissa staggered to a halt at the voice, standing utterly frozen between Ed and Alex, and peered up to find the source of the call. She squinted against the sunlight, her heart racing when she saw a figure standing just above them… With short dark hair and a familiar smile…

" _Ross_?!"

"That damned Colonel," Ed breathed, grinning in sudden elation.

Maria Ross jumped down to stand before them, smiling, looking relieved and _alive_ , she was actually _alive_!

As Alex lost his head, tearing free of his shirt and chasing poor Ross around to embrace her, Lissa sagged into Ed's side and rested her head on his shoulder, trying to come to terms with it all. Mustang hadn't killed her. But he'd _claimed_ he had, which meant…which meant… He'd faked her death?! All of that pain, the blame he accepted, the hatred he'd taken on… And he _hadn't even killed Lieutenant Ross._

Guilt knotted her stomach. "He didn't do it," she whispered. "Ed… He didn't kill her."

"No," he acknowledged softly, bringing his arm up around her and pulling her into his side. "No he didn't, Liss."

"There really wasn't anyplace in Amestris we could safely hide a dead girl," Breda explained, grinning wryly. "Especially one that's still alive, you know?"

"So the Colonel knew that Lieutenant Ross was innocent all along?" Ed asked, turning to him.

"Now that's quite a story." Breda jerked his chin towards the clearing ahead, where Fu and Mr. Han waited. "C'mon, you two. Settle in. The Major needs to hear this too, might as well tell everybody at once, right? Er…" He cast a bemused look towards Alex and Ross. "Once the Major's calmed down a bit, that is."

Lissa sat pressed against Edward's side, still reeling from everything they'd been told. Not only had Mustang _not_ killed Ross—he'd orchestrated her whole escape, arranging to falsify her dental records, getting part of his team to pitch in and help, even somehow getting _Barry the Chopper_ to fucking help out… All of it because he knew Ross was innocent, and didn't want the wrong person incarcerated for Hughes' murder.

And she'd said such awful things… Lissa wondered if Mustang had drawn his unending stoicism that night from pain, not apathy.

It wasn't just Mustang, either. Ling had gotten involved, and cut a deal with Sixty-Six that explained Fu's presence here as well. The prince had tasked him with delivering Ross safely to Xing, where she'd be well out of reach of the Amestrian military—and protected there as well, by Ling's own clansmen.

At the end of it all, though, rather than being awed…Ed just smirked and muttered, "You've gotta be joking. I can't believe the Colonel was able to pull one over on us like this."

"He knew it'd be easier to convince you and Lissa if you actually _saw_ Lieutenant Ross," Breda explained, shrugging.

Ed grinned and raised his hands. "Fine, I'll admit it, all right? He actually knew what he was doing this time." It was quite a concession for him, too, considering he rarely had two positive words to say for Mustang.

"He mentioned something else." Breda's expression turned wry. "He said he didn't want to take a chance on a couple of hot-tempered kids endangering the operation…so he sent you two out here."

"Hot-tempered _kid_?!" Ed raged, incensed.

Lissa only rolled her eyes. That was the Mustang she knew—always doing something good, but with a sharp backhand at the end. So he hadn't changed all that much, then.

Alex gave Breda a thoughtful look. "You said operation," he noted. "So is there a phase beyond liberating Lieutenant Ross?"

"Indeed. He's got a plan to reel in the puppeteer—the one that's behind the conspiracy."

Ed blinked at him in surprise. "Wait, what?"

Lissa leaned forward eagerly, seizing the comment. "Wait, Mustang's trying to root them out?" she asked, feeling her eyes shoot wide. "The ones behind all of this? He's actually got a plan to force them out of hiding?"

"Yup, he sure does. You guys remember Barry, from the Fifth Lab?" Breda asked, too casually to be aware what the name meant to them. "He went on one hell of a rampage. They're bound to send someone to reclaim him. It ended up being a great opportunity, actually, all the fuss the Colonel made and the high-profile nature of it all. The idea is…now that we're all here…we can pool our evidence out here where it's safe to talk, and see what we can make of it all."

Ed tapped Lissa's shoulder. "You got the ouroboros?"

She found it in herself to smile at him. "You know it. You can do the transmutation circle?"

"'Course. Hey, Major, you remember the drawings Liss and I did back in Central, of the two homunculi we saw at the Fifth Laboratory? You're pretty good at drawing, maybe you can help us redo those." Ed grinned and snagged Breda's notebook when he held it out. "Then there's Greed, too, he might be gone but he's still part of the equation."

"I'll handle that," Lissa offered quickly. "You do the circle first, Ed, and you can help me finish."

Within just a few minutes—largely made possible by Alex's exceptional drawing skills—they'd finished up the drawings they had to add to the list of information, and between Lissa and Ed, they were able to explain the overall concept, or at least what they knew of it. The Philosopher's Stone, the homunculi, the human sacrifices… Everything they had, they laid it out for the others to take in.

Except Lissa's additional senses. Ed very carefully left that out. It meant ignoring her suspicions about Führer Bradley, but she was too afraid to reveal herself and she was _so_ grateful Ed picked up on that without causing an awkward situation.

At the end of it all, Ross slumped her shoulders, looking miserable. "I've got nothing to do with this," she realized dejectedly. "Zilch. And yet here I am, stuck in the middle of it... And framed by _homunculi_."

Lissa sat back against Ed's side, feeling guilty even though it wasn't really anyone's fault but their enemies'.

"We've collected a fair amount of intelligence," Breda mused, staring down at the assortment of drawings and going between those and his own notebook thoughtfully. "And once we piece it together properly, we'll have the General's killer."

Alex folded his arms across his chest. "I promise you this, Lieutenant. We _will_ absolve you of this crime!"

Lissa felt Ed sink into her just a bit, his expression turning sad and distant. "Lieutenant Col… I mean… General Hughes…" He sighed weakly, bowing his head. "It's just hard to accept that he's dead, even now."

"And what shall you do now, Edward Elric?" Alex asked lowly.

Ed twisted his fingers together, a gesture Lissa knew all too well within herself. "Al and I committed a taboo," he murmured softly, his words coming out cautious, each chosen carefully before he spoke. "But…we still have people that help us. Some people get angry at us, and others support us silently. Each one of them has tried to help me keep my promise to my brother."

 _Not his promise to you… Just yours to Al… So you really aren't worried about getting your body back, are you?_

His fingers tightened around his own automail, the wrist joint clanking with the pressure. "So I have no choice. I _can't_ turn back. Which means all I _can_ do is move forward, right?" Ed lifted his arm and clenched his fist beneath his glove, the single one he'd kept on, his voice soft and yet resolute, immutable. "And I'll protect everyone I can along the way. I refuse to let another person become a victim. Not while I'm alive." He unclenched his fist and stared down at his own hands. "I know that's a hard promise to keep. It's hard enough just trying to take care of myself. And to think that I'm even capable of it…" A faint sigh. "Maybe I'm just arrogant. But…it's the only thing I can think of. So I have to do it. I _have_ to."

Lissa rested her right hand atop his left, palms pressing together, and tucked her fingers between his. She didn't speak a word, but she didn't need to, she thought. Not when he tightened his hand on hers and brought it to his forehead, brushing her knuckles there just lightly.

No one told him he was wrong—no one suggested he couldn't do it. Alex merely nodded, accepting that, and turned to Ross. "And you, Lieutenant? Do you intend to seek asylum in Xing, as was offered to you?"

"Yeah," she agreed, smiling gamely. "I'm gonna give Xing a shot."

She was leaving, then. Ed looked up sharply, like he hadn't expected she'd actually go through with it, but Lissa wasn't really surprised. Somehow…it just made sense, given her options. Xing was her safest choice, the one that afforded her the greatest chance of making it through all this.

So just before sunset, they all gathered to see Ross off, with Fu as her guide, among a few other people who had been recruited for the task as well. It was…difficult, in a way, watching her leave like that… But it was for the best. Lissa knew that. It was better for her to leave and _live_ than stay around and face what was to come. Not that she thought Ross was cowardly, not by a long shot. No… Lissa was just glad to see someone, anyone, come out safely.

"We should get going soon," Alex noted, checking the position of the sun. "Otherwise it will be too late."

"Liss and I have something to check out first," Ed told him. "We won't be long."

The stone carving they'd seen before… Of course. Lissa grabbed his hand and they headed off together, retracing their steps through the ruins, working together to pick out landmarks and find their group's footprints in the dust…until finally they emerged onto that same platform, atop which sat the carving from before.

"There," Lissa murmured, mounting the steps and staring up at it. "This thing is _huge_."

"Doesn't it look familiar to you?" Ed asked, with his arms folded over his chest. "It looks just like the transmutation circle from the Fifth Laboratory to me." He uncrossed his arms and stepped up behind Lissa, draping his arm around her shoulders and leaning into her as he pointed out the visible symbols at each of the five points. "So there's a two-headed dragon there… And then the sun. But…" He groaned and dropped his forehead onto her shoulder. "Ugh, dammit! Why does the top part have to be missing?" Ed complained.

Lissa felt the shift in the air, heard footsteps patter along the stone behind them, felt Ed's fingers tighten on her, all in a single heartbeat. She ducked away as Ed dodged sideways, pivoting on the ball of her foot and turning back to see Ed had knocked the man flat on his stomach and jammed a knee into his back. Their attacker's arm was twisted behind him at an uncomfortable angle, one push away from having the bone snapped in two.

"The hell do you want?" Ed asked harshly. "We don't have any money, so you've…" But he trailed off, frowning. "Wait, you're an Ishvalan?"

Lissa tuned into the buzzing of her senses and spun, putting her back to Ed as Ishvalans stepped into view all around them, creeping out of hiding and moving forward in a single mass. In seconds, they were completely surrounded.

"Shit," Lissa breathed, lifting her hands as she tried to assess how exactly to fight their way past these sheer _numbers_.

"Excuse me," one of the Ishvalans spoke up, and peeled away from the crowd to approach them. "I'm afraid that we're gonna have to take you two hostage until your military returns our holy land to us."

Ed twisted their attacker's arm around, adjusting his hold but not relenting, and turned to smirk at the one who'd spoken. "They're not gonna return squat," he told the man bluntly. "Not over a couple kids."

Yet the man looked down at them still, his expression somehow…sad. "It was the death of a single child that triggered the entire Ishvalan Civil War… So you really shouldn't doubt your significance in the eyes of history," he told them, continuing to approach, his red eyes fixated on Ed. Lissa realized he truly _did_ intend to take them hostage, not realizing that the Amestrian military wouldn't care about a couple expendable alchemists.

She stepped between the Ishvalan and Ed, raising her hands, palms out in a gesture of calming. "Please, don't do this," she asked him softly. "We don't want to hurt anyone. The military isn't going to make a trade—but we _are_ alchemists, and if you try to take us hostage, we'll be forced to defend ourselves. We don't want to do that."

The man took another step towards her. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "But we have no choice."

"That's enough of your shameful behavior!" a new voice rang out, startling the assembled Ishvalans.

Lissa turned to see an elderly woman approaching, supported at the arm by a younger boy, as well as using a cane to keep herself on her own two feet. At her words, the Ishvalans surrounding Lissa and Ed began to murmur, anxious and confused, and the one closest to Lissa breathed, "Madam Shan!"

The woman's gaze was firm. "Look at you fools… Are you all trying to dishonor the name of Ishvala?" Her words made the rest of the Ishvalans wince and look ashamed, all suddenly uncomfortable with the entire thing.

"Look, he won't try to attack you again," the boy at her side insisted. "Can you please just let him go now?"

Ed glanced around a moment, before releasing the man who'd tried to attack them. Then he rose to his feet and stood beside Lissa, fixing Madam Shan with a skeptical, narrow-eyed look. "You stood up for us. I don't get it. I always heard that you guys hated Amestrians."

Though Madam Shan's right eye was covered with a bandage, she still managed to fix him with a fierce look. "Despite the atrocities your country has committed, I know that not all Amestrians are bad."

That was…a first. Lissa took Ed's arm absently, pulling him in closer for a sort of comfort. "How did you come to that conclusion?" she asked warily. "Not from accosting travelers out here in Xerxes, I assume."

The boy shook his head sadly. "Madam Shan and I were both injured during the civil war," he began. "But then we were saved by two Amestrian doctors. To be honest…" The boy bowed his head, seeming to wrestle with something. "I do hate you. But the two of them saved me. And you deserve the same treatment."

"Wait a minute…" Ed's fingers tightened on Lissa's arm. "You're not talking about the Rockbells, are you?"

Lissa gaped at him. The _Rockbells_? Winry's parents?

Both the boy and Madam Shan looked at each other in visible shock. The boy leaned forward, eyebrows pinched as he asked, "Are you saying you were a friend of Dr. Rockbell?"

"Uh, yeah." Ed raked his free hand through his bangs.

A smile came over the boy's face, something genuine and kind. "They saved the lives of countless Ishvalans," he explained, sounding genuinely touched. "All throughout the course of the entire war."

"No kidding," Ed breathed, smiling too now. "They were like an aunt and uncle to me. I grew up with their daughter, we're both close with her."

Madam Shan's lips curled upward. "They refused to abandon their post… It didn't matter how much the fighting escalated."

"How did…" Lissa turned to Ed in surprise as his voice darkened, his gaze falling away to the stone beneath their feet. "How did they die?" he managed to ask, though she felt him clinging to her, leaning into her as he spoke.

"They were killed," Madam Shan admitted, in a tone full of regret. "They were both murdered in cold blood. And…it was by the hand of an Ishvalan they'd saved."

Ed flinched at her words. "But that's so…"

Unfair, awful, despicable… Nothing seemed to quite do it justice. Lissa felt so horrible for Winry, to lose her parents to something like _this_ , nothing more than a cruel twist of fate itself…

"I'm so sorry," Madam Shan told them honestly, pained. "There was nothing we could do to stop him."

"Tell me who did it!" Ed demanded sharply, sparking into anger _so_ fast.

Lissa pressed her hand into his chest. She murmured his name, a warning, trying to keep him from losing his temper. He could be so volatile even under the best of circumstances, but here… It could be infinitely worse if he lost control.

The Ishvalan woman bowed her head. "His face was wrapped in bandages… But he was an Ishvalan monk, and his right arm was tattooed."

She waited for the inevitable rage—but Edward just bowed his head to the woman instead. "Thank you," he murmured, "for telling me. And for sparing us." He pulled Lissa closer, wrapped his arm around her waist, possessive and protective all at once. She wondered at the shift in him, in his demeanor. "We won't forget this."

"Young man… If you should have the chance…" Madam Shan gave him a tentatively hopeful look. "Would you deliver a message to the resting place of the Rockbells for us? Please give them our thanks… And our apologies."

"Of course," he murmured. Ed turned to Lissa and summoned up a faint, weak smile. "C'mon, Liss. We should be getting back."

She nodded, and they left the Ishvalans behind together. Though Lissa doubted they'd see these Ishvalans again, that they'd ever be back at Xerxes… She still felt as though this single, short meeting had altered both her life and Ed's irreversibly. For what Amestrians could say they'd walked away from a conflict with Ishvalans… _without_ any bloodshed?

"Hey, Lissa…"

She blinked and looked at Ed, confused. "What's up?"

He quirked a faint smile. "You did it again, you know."

"Did what again?"

Ed sighed fondly. "You stepped in front of me, _again_. You really need to get out of that habit, silly. It's almost like you don't think I can handle myself."

Lissa turned up her nose at him. "I _know_ you can, dummy. That doesn't change whether or not I want to protect you."

"Just…" He smiled and kissed her temple. "Be careful."

She shifted closer, for once not embarrassed of the blush coloring her cheeks. "Okay," she murmured. "I'll try, Ed."


	25. Reunion

So. Hi. I've been gone a long time. And there are a myriad of excuses I could make, reasons I could give, et cetera, but that'd be TMI to the highest degree and I don't feel like I need to do that to you guys. I swore not to abandon this story, and though I haven't had the mindset to post - every comment, review, every favorite and any interaction that came through while I was away meant more than I could possibly say. And the good news is, I didn't stop writing! I've drafted out a TON of new chapters for S&S, written some ahead even, and I got deeply into a new story as well. So I am back-back, for real. Hopefully things will be stable from now on, fingers crossed, but I am never ever ditching S&S and that is an absolute promise. You'll see the end. So bear with me, please. And THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, if you've stayed on. Or if you're new here! I love you all.

* * *

The journey back felt shorter somehow. Maybe it was due to Lissa taking better care of Ed's automail—which both quieted his griping _and_ gave her something else to focus on—or just the sense of ease pervading their considerably smaller party after everything that happened in Xerxes. Lissa knew she felt better about the world knowing Mustang hadn't betrayed them— _her_ —the way she'd thought originally. She made a mental note to apologize for talking to him that way, the next time she saw him.

Considering Alex had actually done a little damage to Ed's automail, when they made it back to Resembool he opted to remain there and get Pinako to fix it up before going back to Central, and naturally, Lissa elected to stay with him. Not even Breda seemed surprised by that decision.

"Y'know, you could've gone back if you wanted," Ed pointed out as they strolled away from Resembool station.

Lissa shot him a dry look. "Yeah, if I _wanted_. But I'd rather stay here with you. I mean, you say it's boring, but I really like Resembool. Central gets too cloying sometimes, and you can't see the stars like you can out here either. Besides…" She nudged her elbow into his ribs. "We're supposed to be partners now, right? That means we stick together."

Ed grinned and rested a hand on the back of his head. "That's fair. I dunno, most people who've spent as much time as you have in Central seem to swear by the place. I'm not used to anyone disliking it as much as you."

"I hate crowds, remember?" she pointed out with a roll of her eyes. "Central is kind of my personal nightmare when it gets busy."

"Well, the only crowds you have to worry about here are sheep," Ed muttered, pointing up the lane to where a flock of sheep was slowly ambling across the road. "And sheep and sheep and more sheep… Nothing but sheep. We have a _festival_ for it. Seriously. It's my hometown's only claim to fame, the damned sheep festival."

She laughed and bumped his shoulder with her own, grinning when he returned the gesture. "Sheep aren't so bad."

"In small quantities, no. But in hordes…" He shuddered faintly.

"Don't tell me," she deadpanned. "You got lost in a flock when you were a little kid."

" _THEY'RE TALLER THAN THEY LOOK!_ "

Lissa giggled and pulled him in by his arm, brushing the pad of her thumb across his cheekbone to soothe him. "Settle _down_ , Ed. I was just teasing, I didn't actually think it'd happened." She tapped his nose and added, "Anyway, I've got my own embarrassing story. I got lost in a corn maze when I was little. It's one of those weird memories that I've kept, maybe because my parents aren't in it much… But anyway…" She grinned as the last few sheep sauntered across the road, freeing her and Ed to continue on down towards the Rockbells' automail shop. "Somehow I got separated from my parents and I got lost in this huge corn maze, sometime around the harvest… Rather than crying or trying to rush through the corn to find my way out, I just started eating."

Ed snorted a laugh. "Just…just eating raw corn? Are you serious?"

" _Completely_. So there was just this little girl, maybe four or five years old, wandering around in the maze picking ears of corn and just _eating_ them." Lissa couldn't help but grin at the memory. "The thing is, I solved the stupid maze. That's how I found my parents in the end. I could tell where I'd gone by looking to see if there was any corn left within grabbing distance, so I found my way out and actually won."

He laughed full out then, golden eyes bright in the sunlight. "Oh _man_. You literally ate your way out of a corn maze. You are…a complete marvel, Lissa Caito. I swear." He paused and squinted up the road, shielding his eyes with his free hand. "We should probably stop by the cemetery on our way… I'd like to visit Auntie and Uncle's graves like those Ishvalans asked."

Lissa nodded, agreeing in a heartbeat. "I still can't believe all of that… Winry's parents must have been amazing people."

"They were," Ed told her with a soft smile. "They really were."

"It kind of gives me hope for the future, too," Lissa admitted quietly. "Seeing how the Ishvalans treated us… I really thought their hatred would go deeper, but I think at this point everyone's so tired of fighting, they just want a resolution."

He nodded, seeming thoughtful. "Yeah. I have some…reservations of my own, I mean… Most of Resembool burned down during the war, and that was all Ishvalans doing that. They destroyed Rayerk too. But… I guess people do all sorts of things when they're hurt. I dunno. We get told so much from the military about what happened out there, and we just sort of…believe it, but that's pretty shortsighted, isn't it? Just listening to one side?"

Lissa glanced down at the ground, a bit ashamed. "The victors' side too. That makes it even worse."

"Well, we know better now. It's gotta start somewhere, right?" Ed flashed a brighter smile at her then, shaking off the moment. "C'mon. The cemetery's just right up ahead. And the sooner we get to Granny's, the sooner we can eat."

"You know, I think you…" But Lissa trailed off, frowning as they approached the gate to the cemetery. "Ed… Isn't that your mother's grave?"

He followed her gaze with his eyes narrowed. "Yeah… So who's…standing there…" Ed suddenly jerked to a halt, just outside the gate, his whole body gone rigid. "No… _No_ … It can't be… That isn't possible…"

Lissa stared ahead at the blond man standing in front of Trisha Elric's grave, her senses alive with this…strange _wrongness_ , like what she'd felt in Liore, at Dr. Marcoh's… That slimy sick feeling she knew all too well correlated with the Philosopher's Stone, or at the very least with something of equivalent suffering…

"Who is he, Ed?" she asked softly, reaching for him—but too late. The warmth at her side vanished as Ed strode forward, scowling, hands clenched at his sides. She could only follow, trail him in through the gate until he stood only a stone's throw from this man.

And when the man turned…it all fell into place.

"Hohenheim?!" Ed snarled.

Lissa could only stare in utter shock at this man, golden eyes framed behind glasses, long golden-blond hair tied into a ponytail… A man who looked so painfully much like Ed, some of the same angular features, the shape of the jaw, just… _something_ that echoed the boy standing beside her. She knew. It was achingly obvious, not just in the man's features but the rage and pain contorting Ed's face, the tight clench of his jaw, his hands fisted at his sides, the hatred radiating from him…

This man…was Ed and Al's _father_.

"Hello, Edward," Hohenheim greeted in a low, almost cautious voice. "You appear to have grown some."

Ed gritted his teeth and turned his head away sharply.

"I spoke with Pinako," Hohenheim continued, his tone shifting, just minutely—but enough to warn of what was coming. "You tried human transmutation."

"What makes you think you can show up like this?" Ed demanded harshly. "There's nothing left for you here anymore!"

The man's gaze darkened even further. "I noticed. Tell me, Edward. What possessed you to burn down my home?" As he spoke, he turned and looked off towards where Lissa knew the house's remnants sat, the charred out remains of what had once been Ed and Al's house… But she didn't think it was right, calling it _his_ home. The boys had only been in a position to burn it down because they were there _alone_ for so damned long.

She…didn't like this man. Not at all.

Ed scowled, averting his eyes. "After what happened, we vowed to never turn back. We did it as a symbol of our resolve."

"No you didn't," Hohenheim denied sharply. "You were hiding the memory."

Lissa almost jumped when Ed's hand pressed into her back, hard, fingers curling and clenching onto the back of her tank top. But she stayed still, let him do what he needed, felt his hand trembling against her… He was coming unhinged at just a few words from this man.

"You didn't want to be reminded of what you've done," the man continued, either ignoring Ed's distress or not caring about it as he advanced on him, "and thought you could erase the memory by destroying the evidence." When he stood there, looming over Ed, his gaze wholly fixated on him without regard for anything else, Lissa had the most dizzying sense of that same _wrongness_ , the horrible oil slick of a feeling, and for a moment she wanted to grab Ed and run.

"You're wrong!" Ed snapped, trying to stand up against him.

But Hohenheim scoffed. "It's just like a child who hides the sheets after he wets the bed."

 _What the hell?!_

"You ran away," he continued, his voice dark and scolding. "And you know it."

For just a moment, Ed _looked_ like a child, his expression hurt and lost—then rage bloomed in its place. "I—you don't know a damn thing, you bastard!" He whirled and dragged Lissa with him, stomping towards the exit. "You make me sick to my stomach," he hissed.

"You aren't going to introduce me to your friend?" Hohenheim called after them.

Ed's fingers clenched down _hard_ on Lissa's arm. "Why?" he snarled over his shoulder. "Not like you'll be around long enough for it to matter!"

She waited until they were out of earshot to gently peel Ed's fingers off her wrist, one at a time. "Careful," she murmured, holding his hand in hers when he tried to pull away. "That's your automail, you know. I'm a little more breakable than steel, unfortunately."

"Fuck. I'm sorry, Liss. He just…" Ed growled under his breath. "He made me so _angry_!"

Lissa wondered how to approach it. Most people didn't take well to their parents being spoken down about, even if they did it themselves… But here… "He's…" Lissa sighed roughly. _Screw it. I can't just bite my tongue._ "Okay, I'm gonna assume we have enough trust between us that I can be honest with you. Stop me if I go too far." She dropped his arm and rammed a fist into her leg as they walked, finally letting some of her own ire flood in. "I don't like how that asshole treated you at _all_ , Ed. Not for a single damned second. I know I lost my parents when I was seven, but that doesn't mean I don't have _some_ idea of how a parent should act—and that's _not_ how. Not even fucking close. It's like he had no idea you'd gotten older than age freaking _five_! No apologies? Not a shred of remorse? He didn't even ask you about Alphonse!" Lissa shot a baleful look over her shoulder, still raging, half-hoping she'd see Hohenheim behind them and be able to unleash this on him. "You don't owe him a damn thing, Ed. He's the one that left two small children alone—he's got no right to judge you and Al on the decisions _you_ made when you had nobody else there looking after you!"

Realizing she truly might've pushed it too far, Lissa cut herself off, pursing her lips together and scowling across the horizon at nothing in particular. "I'm sorry. I just… I can't imagine seeing your _child_ for the first time in a decade and then acting like _that_."

Ed inched closer, and she blinked at him in surprise when she felt him take her hand back, felt him pull her in closer, one arm looping around her back to pin them together. "Dammit, Liss… Practically everybody else in my life always says to forgive that bastard… And then you come in and just…" He shook his head faintly. "Don't apologize. I—just… _Thank_ you. Okay? For standing by me."

"We're partners now," she reminded him quietly. "More than that, you're my family, Ed. And I don't take kindly to somebody talking that way to somebody I really care about."

He twisted his mouth up ruefully. "It isn't gonna be over yet… He said he spoke to Granny, which means he's staying at her place too. We're stuck with him until we head back to Central. And I swear, I'll freaking detach his train car if he tries to follow us there."

"I'll help."

That made him flash a weak but genuine smile. "Thanks, Liss. I just…wanna get this over with, that's all."

She nodded. How could she _not_ understand that? "As soon as we can, we'll head back to Central. I promise. Even if we have to sneak out in the middle of the night or something, I bet Pinako will understand."

"Yeah, well… Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

* * *

 _Awkward. So awkward._

Lissa hovered anxiously in the doorway, not really sure how to answer the question that had been posed to her. "I'm…sorry, Mr. Hohenheim," she began slowly. "We're both just…exhausted, you see. We've been traveling a lot."

He regarded her skeptically. "You don't need to lie to me, Miss Caito. I know Edward doesn't want to come down."

 _Then why'd you ask me in the first place?_ Outwardly, she tried to keep her expression benign while what she really wanted to do was shove a photo of Edward and Alphonse when they were little in front of him, and demand to know how exactly he could bear leaving them behind… But this wasn't her battle. She'd only volunteered to go downstairs and bring food up because she knew Ed would end up in _another_ argument if he did it—and she'd promised him she'd try her hardest not to cause Pinako any further stress.

Thus far, she'd counted four arguments. One, when Hohenheim showed up a few minutes after she and Ed made it, and Ed had offhandedly called him a bastard. Hohenheim called him out, and Edward had blown his lid. Two, when Hohenheim asked if Ed still _childishly_ hated milk. Three, when he'd finally been introduced to Lissa officially, only to remark how odd it was for two fifteen-year-olds to be state alchemists. And four, when Hohenheim pointed out that he and Ed had similar hairstyles, as Ed's was still in a ponytail from being in the desert. That one resulted in Ed angrily braiding his hair and stomping out of the kitchen.

All of which culminated in Lissa attempting, somewhat halfheartedly, to keep a little separation between the two.

"We are exhausted, though," she added on, irate he'd considered that a complete lie. "And it'll just cause more arguments, besides. I'm just…keeping the peace." She waved to Pinako and headed upstairs, sandwiches in tow, hurrying to slip into the room she was sharing with Ed and closing the door behind her.

"How'd it go?" he asked dryly, looking up from his automail hand.

Lissa settled onto the bed next to him and shrugged faintly. "He knows you're avoiding him. I did point out that it's to prevent arguments, but…"

He groaned and flopped backwards, dragging a pillow over his face and screaming into it. "I _hate_ him, Liss. I really do. I don't get why he has to treat me like a damn child when I'm nearly an adult by now—and he's got _no_ idea what Al and I have been through since he left. He can't just come prancing back into our lives like he has a damn clue what we've done or how to be our parent. He was _never_ our father. Al doesn't remember, but I do."

She reached out and gently tugged the pillow off his face. It was hard to watch him go through this, the moments where Hohenheim's words got to him and he turned youthful, childish, his arguments becoming petty… And the moments where he was truly in pain, suffering from the loss and the weight of all that rage sitting on his shoulders…

"Al sees people differently, too," she murmured. Lissa pulled him upright, brushing the hair from his eyes, and stroked her thumb along the underside of his jaw. "He's always seeing the good in people, even when it's not really there, or it's different than how he's seeing it. I'd guess the same thing applies here, you know? He wants to see something positive… He wants to see hope… Even if that's not really what's there."

Ed scowled down at his hands. "I'd rather him see hope than a damned black hole."

She brushed her forefinger along the crease between his eyebrows, startling him out of the angry expression and getting him to look at her. "Stop frowning so hard," Lissa chided gently. "You look much more handsome when you're smiling."

 _I don't have a filter anymore, do I?_

He shifted where he sat, his cheeks going a bit red in embarrassment. "You're just saying that," he muttered.

"Why would I?" she asked him softly. "I don't lie to you, Ed."

He nodded, wringing his hands in his lap. "I know. Sorry, Liss… I'm just in a bad way right now, I guess."

Lissa unwound his hands and took them in hers instead. "Of course you are. That…had to be the worst shock ever, running into him, especially there of all places…"

"I hate him," Ed whispered, shutting his eyes tight. "I really hate him." He screwed his face up angrily. "And then he had to go and point out that we _look_ alike… As if I'd ever want to look like that bastard, what the hell did he think I was going to say?!"

She regarded him a moment, considering it… Then Lissa scooted over and sat behind him, draping her legs to either side of him and rubbing her hands up and down his arms. "Everyone looks like their parents, at least a little," she began slowly. As she talked, Lissa carefully pulled the tie off the end of his hair and slipped it around her wrist instead. "I could see it, a bit… But I could see it in photos of your mom, too. Mostly though… You just look like yourself, to me." She began to gently unbind his hair, freeing it from the braid and smoothing her fingers through the soft golden strands. He had a few tangles, so she picked her way cautiously through those since there wasn't a hairbrush in sight, ensuring she didn't yank on his head or cause him any kind of pain. "You're not him, Ed. Not in the slightest. You don't need to worry about that."

"You always see right through me, don't you?" he murmured, curling his knees to his chest. "I dunno how you do it, Liss. I always thought it'd feel kind of…invasive, to have someone around who actually knew me that well… But it's just…comforting. I know I can say whatever's on my mind and you'll just…get it. You'll get _me_."

She twisted a strand of his hair around her finger, smiling gently. "I do my best. I just…want to look after you, that's all. However I can." Lissa stood up then, sliding around him and coming to stand in front of him instead. "I'm gonna go shower all the desert grime off me. Don't get into trouble while I'm gone, please?"

Ed found it in himself to smirk. "Me, get into trouble?"

"You know what I mean," she laughed. "Try to eat something too, okay? I know you're having a hard time, so just do what you can. We'll make up for it when we're back in Central."

He nodded, seeming all right with that, so Lissa was going to leave—but then he spoke up again. "Liss… I just…" Ed sighed and pulled his hand through his hair, waving her away. "Never mind. It can wait."

She frowned at him. "Are…are you sure? I don't mind, if you need to talk to me about something…"

"Nah." Edward grinned at her, aiming for carefree, though she could see the strain around his eyes. Something was bothering him. "It's okay, I promise. Anyway, I might be asleep when you get back, so just…don't worry about waking me up."

Which meant _please don't leave me in here alone._ She knew that. "You sleep like a log," Lissa pointed out, smirking. "Well… I'm gonna shower. Just knock if you need me."

Though it about killed her to do it, Lissa left him there with just a kiss on the forehead, alone, and headed down the hall to the shower. The truth was…they both needed time to think, to gather themselves after what had happened. She knew Ed liked to compose himself in private, that he needed a little time to himself when he was struggling with something… Hopefully he'd either have worked through it a bit, or have managed to fall asleep, by the time she got back. She didn't want him dealing with anymore bullshit until he'd gotten a little rest.

* * *

Once she'd cleaned all the dirt and sand and just… _grime_ off herself, Lissa felt more like a normal human. She hadn't noticed it until she got into the shower, but after she did notice she became just completely disgusted by the layer of filth she'd accumulated out in Xerxes. The whole process took longer than she'd expected, so Lissa figured Ed would be fast asleep by the time she got back. That was all right, though. It wasn't like they were on a strict schedule or anything—they had time to handle everything.

Lissa toweled her hair off and slipped into her pyjamas, bundling her clothes up to wash later on and stepping out of the bathroom—right as Hohenheim backed out of the room she was sharing with Ed and closed the door softly.

"Oh," he murmured, turning to look at her in surprise. "Is this your room as well?"

She nodded slowly. "It is." Lissa stared at him, trying to read his intentions, but he was unnaturally stoic in the face. It was disconcerting. "Er, Mr. Hohenheim… What…exactly were you…doing in there, can I ask?"

He grinned sheepishly. "Trying to be a parent, I suppose. And failing at it."

Lissa didn't really know what to say back to that, to be honest.

"I see my son has gotten to you…" he mused. "Given Edward's obvious dislike for me, I'm not surprised you feel similarly—he seems to have quite a strong personality, I'm sure it's difficult to overcome that."

She glared at him, anger rising. "Ed didn't _make_ me feel any particular way about you, Mr. Hohenheim. I'm capable of forming my own opinions." Lissa gripped her bundle of clothes tighter, trying to put a lid on her rage and failing miserably. "My parents died when I was seven. I barely remember them, most of my memories either faded or I disassociated from them because they were too painful. I grew up without a family, in a military-run facility in Central. So you see…" She gazed at the floorboards, unsure how to phrase it properly. "I understand the value of having your parents in your life. Even just _one_ parent."

Hohenheim's countenance brightened just a bit. "Then perhaps you understand why I'm trying to find some way to be there for Edward. He doesn't want me to, that much is clear, but perhaps…perhaps a little guidance wouldn't be too amiss."

Lissa sucked in a sharp breath. "Don't misunderstand me," she snapped, furious. His eyes widened in shock at the sudden change in her tone. "I _do_ understand the value of having a parent—which is why I think it's so despicable what you did to Ed and Al. Leaving two little boys to fend for themselves like that is _completely_ unforgivable. They were just four and five years old, if that means anything to you. Just children. And they had to live in that big house all by themselves, they had to go home, alone, to the place where their _mother_ died, every single night." Her voice shook and her grip released on the bundle of clothes—it dropped to the floor at her feet, but she didn't bother to pick it up. "I know not all of their decisions might've been the best, but to _scold_ them… To treat Ed like he's a child when he's gone through hell, when you didn't _see_ what happened to him… That's just… It's almost hateful. And I'm sorry I have to be this harsh. I'd like to pretend I don't feel this way, but I can't do it. I care too much about your son to sit on my ass while he's mistreated."

He furrowed his brow at her, looking thoroughly baffled but remaining silent for so long that she started to wonder if he'd really heard her at all. Finally, though, he sighed and shook his head wearily. "I suppose not, then. Oh well. I should be used to it by now. But I do wonder, young lady…" Hohenheim eyed her curiously. "Is it…entirely appropriate for you to share a room with Edward, considering your ages?"

Lissa's jaw dropped. "Unbelievable," she muttered. "You really have _no_ idea how to be a parent, do you?" She snatched up her fallen clothes and scowled at him, just completely knocked off her feet by how painfully out of touch he was. All that, all the ranting and raging she'd done, and _that_ was his reaction? It was _crazy_. "Trust me, I am the _last_ person you need to worry about with Ed. I got my ribs broken protect him, I was willing to _die_ just for the damned chance to keep him safe. If you're trying to get on his good side, you're going in the wrong direction." With that she brushed past him and into the bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her.

Immediately, Ed rolled over and sat up, his jaw tense, gaze burning into her from across the room. "What the hell did that bastard want with you?" he asked lowly.

"Not much," she told him hesitantly. She'd assumed he was asleep…but now it looked like he was just pretending to sleep before. What had he heard? Did he know everything she'd said to Hohenheim out there, when she'd lost control of her emotions? "He…seemed to think you'd _made_ me feel a certain way about him, so I just…" Lissa swallowed. "Set him straight, that's all."

"Liss…" He swung his legs out of bed and gave her a suspicious look. "What did you say?"

"Um…" Lissa tossed her clothes over to her side and shuffled towards him, suddenly wondering if she'd gone too far… What if he resented her for saying all that? He hadn't heard, so she could still write it off… But she didn't want to lie to him. "Would you…hate me if I said I told him off?"

Ed blinked slowly. "Told him off," he repeated. His voice was too quiet, too even for her to read what he felt. "How, exactly?"

She wrung her hands together and spun away from him. If he was going to be pissed…she didn't think she could bear to see it on his face. "He just sort of…got mixed up on something I said… He thought for a moment I was sympathizing with him trying to parent you and I just… I got angry. I told him the truth, Ed, that's all."

"Well… Will you tell me?" he asked her softly.

 _He won't let me out of it, will he? Fine, then. If I have to upset him, then I shouldn't drag it out._

Lissa sighed and turned back to him, still twisting her fingers together. "I told him that…that I think it's despicable that he could leave you and Al behind, because I…because I understand just how much it would mean to a little kid to have a parent around, even one. I'm sorry if it was…out of line or…anything like that, but the way he talked to you…and _about_ you… Both of you deserve better, Ed, you and Alphonse. No matter what his reasoning might be, to me it's just completely unforgivable to leave two little kids all on their own like that. And then to think he can just step back in… It makes me _sick_ to see you treated that way."

When she finished, she found she couldn't look at him—not until Ed spoke up in a quiet, almost controlled tone. She looked up to see him sitting with his head bowed, his forearms resting loosely on his knees, seeming…so completely overwhelmed. "You know… I don't think anybody's ever told me that I…that I'm not being an ass to hold a grudge against him," he whispered, after a moment. "I… I can't remember someone ever just saying… _that_ , saying that he screwed up and it's not a bad thing to still be angry."

"Of course you have a right to be angry," Lissa told him fiercely. His head jerked up, eyes fixating on her face. "Dammit, Ed. He _abandoned_ you and Al. You should be angry, you should be fucking furious for yourself _and_ for Al—he left and now he expects he can just wander back in? Like hell. I'm angry and it didn't even happen to me." She crossed to him and sank down beside him, even though the rage in her chest wanted her to go berate Hohenheim again. "Don't you _dare_ feel like you shouldn't be upset. I don't care what anyone else says. You aren't wrong here."

He leapt up and grabbed onto her then, so tightly it made his muscles tremble, burying his face in her shoulder and letting out a harsh breath. " _Thank you…_ For—for all of it, Liss…"

She stroked the back of his hair gently, her heart breaking for him. Was it really this…overwhelming just to told his emotions were _justified_? Had he really lived ten damned years since Hohenheim left thinking that maybe he was overreacting, that he was being a…a bad son or something just because he couldn't forgive being abandoned?

"You can't be that surprised I'd defend you," she pointed out softly. "Not after everything, Ed."

"I'm not surprised… It just…means a lot, that's all." He sighed, his breath warm on her neck, and for a moment they just held together like that, fitted together perfectly. Then Ed shifted back and released her, seeming almost embarrassed by it.

Trying for a little normalcy, Lissa reached out and tugged on a strand of his hair, earning a faint grin. "Dummy," she teased lightly.

Ed's grin widened just a bit. "You're the one who hangs around with me."

Lissa softened again, though, unable to keep poking fun at him when she could _see_ just how…sensitive he was around the edges, how close he was to breaking down… "'Course I do… I'm not going anywhere, you're completely stuck with me." She traced her fingers down his left arm, his gaze following as she grew braver, smoothing her palm along the contours of his muscles, just…getting lost for a moment…

Then she snapped back to herself and pulled her arm back, stunned at herself for being so damned careless. "C'mon," Lissa murmured. "We should try and rest."

"Yeah…" He grabbed onto his automail reflexively, looking unhappy. "I just…I can't quit thinking about the shit Hohenheim said… About me _hiding_ from something when we burned our house down… I don't know if I can sleep, Liss. I'm gonna have stupid nightmares."

She frowned at him, worried. "But…Ed… You need to rest, you know…"

"I know," he muttered, twisting his mouth up. "It's just pissing me off, he's probably down there right now telling Granny what a whiny little kid I am or something."

"I doubt it," Lissa told him honestly. "But… If it's bothering you so much, why don't we just…go try to hear what they're talking about? I mean, I know eavesdropping is kind of…bad…but if it's such a big deal, then…"

Ed gave her a curious look. "Are you sure? This isn't your problem to handle, Liss, you don't need to do this with me…"

She folded her arms, giving him the most exasperated expression she could muster. "Ed. C'mon. Do you really think I'm just gonna sit here on my ass while you go deal with this on your own? _Really_? Is that ever something I do?"

"No," he admitted, stepping closer and taking her face in both his hands, his thumbs tracing across her cheekbones. "But if I'm just dragging you into more bullshit…"

"I don't get _dragged_ anywhere," Lissa told him firmly. "You've never asked me to do a damn thing for you, did you know that? Not once. Everything I've done, choosing to stay with you, to help you and Al, even just something as simple as staying here in Resembool… I've made those choices myself. And I'm gonna keep choosing you, Ed. You have _never_ made me feel like I'm being forced to do anything—you…you and Alphonse… You're the choice I got to make for myself. So…" She took both his hands in hers, squeezing tightly, and brought them up to her lips. When she spoke, her mouth brushed against his hands, one cool metal and one warm and soft. "Whatever you wanna do, whatever is going to make you feel better… Then I'm with you."

For a moment he just stared at her, his expression infinitely soft, sweet… And then he nodded and gripped down on her hands just once. "Okay. If…if you're really sure, I…" His cheeks flushed ever so slightly. "I'd feel better if you were with me, honestly."

Lissa didn't think he'd ever admitted something like that before.

"Let's go," she murmured, rather than pointing that out.

They snuck down the stairs, hand in hand, both carefully controlling their steps to be as silent as possible. Lissa could hear Pinako and Hohenheim talking in the kitchen, so she pointed in that direction in case Ed hadn't caught it—sometimes she heard things earlier because of her alchemical abilities—and he nodded, pulling her that way in the darkness. They pressed up against the wall just outside the kitchen, in time to hear Pinako ask, rather sharply, "Where have you been all this time? Why didn't you come back sooner? Trisha was waiting for you until the very end."

Ed's hand tightened on Lissa's, and she smoothed her thumb over his knuckles gently.

Claws clicking on the wood, Den padded out of the kitchen to come greet them—he didn't like Hohenheim much, she'd noticed. Lissa beckoned the dog away so they wouldn't be revealed, though she had a sickening feeling that they'd already been given away.

"Pinako…" Hohenheim's voice became lower, more deliberate. "The life form my sons transmuted… Are you positive that it was Trisha?"

 _He can't…possibly be asking about… But… No…_

"Huh? Well, I wouldn't… It didn't even look human to me," Pinako admitted. "So I wouldn't think of it as-"

But he interrupted her, still using that same low, methodical tone. It was beginning to drive Lissa crazy, hearing him talk so calmly about this. "No. That's not what I'm asking. Did you notice the eye color? Or the hair color?"

"What are you trying to get at?" Pinako demanded, suddenly angry, her composure lost. "Are you telling me that wasn't even Trisha?! For all that those boys sacrificed… You're saying that _thing_ they created wasn't even their mother?!"

Lissa had heard enough. She could feel Ed trembling beside her, sense the disturbance in the air from his short, harsh breaths… And that was _enough_. Enough from this man who seemed to think he had some right to interfere in Ed's life, to—to say things like that when she was pretty sure he knew damn well Ed was _right there_. He was a fucking coward! For all that he'd fussed about Ed burning down his house, saying it was _childish_ …Hohenheim couldn't even say _that_ to Ed's face!

She yanked on his hand, pulled him away from the door and back up the stairs. He didn't need to hear anything else. Not if Hohenheim was going to pull things like _that_ out of his ass. Lissa would never have suggested listening in if she'd thought for a second Edward would have to hear that he and Al…might not have even been close to bringing their mother back at all.

 _I saw it… That night, when Mustang took me in… I know what I saw. And Pinako was right, it didn't look human… So… Maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was something else entirely._

Lissa pushed past the bedroom door and guided Ed inside, turning to close it and releasing his hand to twist the lock on the knob—and that moment, the few seconds before she could spin around and reach for him, he fell apart.

Ed fell to his knees, face in his hands, breath coming in quick, rough gasps almost like sobs, his whole body shivering. "Dammit," he choked out. "Dammit!"

She stood over him for a moment, trying to keep from crying _for_ him. She understood why Winry did—even now, this overwrought and undone, Ed wouldn't cry. He had every reason to break down and sob, to give into all the pain, but…he wouldn't. It was all channeling into rage and aggression, like always, as he refused to show that weakness.

Lissa slowly crouched beside him, once she was certain she wouldn't lose control herself, and gently pried his hands off his face. "Come on," she murmured, pulling him to his feet. He followed numbly, his head still bowed, nearly hyperventilating.

There wasn't much to be done… As much as she hated it, no matter what she might say or do, Lissa couldn't fix this. It had been ripped out of her control. She wanted so badly to look after him, take care of him, but in this… What could she possibly do? If what Hohenheim said was the truth, that Ed and Al really _hadn't_ transmuted their mother… That they'd lost their bodies for _nothing_ … Then there wasn't a damn thing she could do that would make this better.

But what she could do…was take care of him in the aftermath.

Ed was pliable under her hands as she guided him across the room, too overcome to fight her. She pulled him to sit on the edge of his bed, beside her, carefully watching the way he opened and closed his automail fist, like he was contemplating lashing out.

"Listen to me," she began slowly, brushing his hair off his shoulder, tucking it behind his ear so she could see his face. "Don't do this to yourself, Ed… I know you, I know what you're putting on your shoulders right now… But you can't do that… You were _kids_ , just children… If you're going to blame anyone, then blame _him_ , blame the one who left you to figure everything out on your own."

"But… _Al_ , Lissa… He lost…he lost his entire body and I…" Ed clenched both fists and slammed them down on his own legs. "It's _my_ fault! I did that to him!"

"No, you didn't," she insisted, keeping her voice low and soft. "He'd tell you the same thing. You can take responsibility for your actions without laying the blame on your own head." Lissa took his left hand in hers as gently as she could, and carefully uncurled his fingers, tracing her thumb across the faint divots his nails left in his palm. "You already carry so much on your shoulders… Don't put this on yourself too…"

He shook his head faintly. "But it _is_ my fault… I'm the one who pushed him, Liss… Al would never have done it himself, he asked me over and over if it was the right thing to do… I caused this. _All_ of it. I'm never going to be able to escape the fact that I made my little brother have to suffer through this… And now…"

Lissa tipped his chin up so he'd look at her, still stunned he wasn't in tears. His voice was so unsteady, he was still shaking, his face was screwed up in _so_ much pain… Yet he wouldn't cry. "I can't speak to what happened before, Ed… But…I do know Alphonse. And I know he doesn't hold you responsible, not on your own. What you said, out in Xerxes, about having people who are willing to help you… Why would that be the case, if this were truly just on your head?"

Ed blinked at her, his mouth working to find an answer—but then he just bowed his head and shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I don't know why anyone would bother, most of the time."

"Because they don't blame you. Because they've seen past the act itself, seen you and Al, and decided that you're worth it." Lissa pulled him into her then, felt him wrap his arms around her and press his face against her neck, his breath rushing over her skin. "And it's people like that who want to see you _both_ whole again, Ed… Even if you won't say it aloud, I know you wouldn't care if you got your arm and leg back as long as Al got his body back… But you're the only one who feels that way."

He gave a faint laugh, just a rush of air, and tightened his hold on her. "So you caught me, huh?"

"You only mentioned your promise to Al… Not your determination to get your own body back." Lissa smoothed a hand over his hair, unable to keep back the fond smile that curled her lips. "It's like you said… I always see through you."

She waited a moment, trying to gauge his stage of mind, before she carefully slid backwards on the bed, pulling him with her, until she could lay back and bring him down with her, still in her arms, just resting against her chest now. Edward lifted his head to look at her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Liss, what…"

"Just rest, okay?" she murmured, and stroked her finger along the crease between his brows. "It's late and it…hasn't been the easiest day for you, Ed. You need sleep. We both do."

"I…guess," he mumbled, uncertain. "And you're-"

"Staying."

Ed nodded slowly, looking like he wanted to argue—but then he pressed closer into her side and draped his arm over her middle, accepting it. "Thank you," he whispered after a moment. "You don't…have to do things like this."

"Nobody's making me," she reminded him. "I'm choosing to."

That made the faintest smile touch the corner of his lips. "Okay."

Lissa lay there, unmoving, watching as Ed's breathing finally slowed, evened out, and he fell asleep. But her mind wouldn't settle, not yet. This wasn't over. She'd calmed him, for now, but this whole issue wasn't going anywhere for a long time. Ed would be focused on it again the next day—and especially if Hohenheim stayed, if he was still there in the morning making those stupid, hapless comments like he was completely out of touch with the world… That would just make things _so_ much worse.

 _How can I help him with any of this when the damn source of the issue is in the same house? How the hell am I supposed to protect him from his own father?_

She forced her muscles to still, bit down on the urge to clutch Ed to her like she could protect him with just her physical presence. Lissa knew, on some level, that interfering between him and his father was…maybe improper, but she just didn't _care_. Hohenheim was no _parent_. It wasn't like getting in between a father and son with an actual relationship. Ed visibly _hated_ his father, and his damned father didn't seem to know how not to piss his son off.

So Lissa resolved to do what she could, no matter if it was proper or not. She'd protect Ed however she had to.


	26. Matters of the Heart

Uh... Surprise? Semi-double-post to celebrate being back! I just want to say a HUGE thank you to the people who've come and left comments - it genuinely almost brought me to tears last night seeing that people still want to see where this is going, even though I vanished for so long. So, this chapter is dedicated to the people who've stuck by me through the craziness. This one has been a long time coming, and I'm so excited (and terrified!) to put it into the light. Any thoughts, feelings, criticisms, etc, are MORE than welcomed here. As always, I love you all and hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Morning, Pinako!" Lissa greeted cheerily as she stepped into the kitchen the next morning, pointedly ignoring Hohenheim's presence. She'd arisen early, disturbed by dreams of fire and pain from her own childhood—and rather than bothering Ed with something that was starting to be a regular occurrence, she'd disentangled herself from him and come downstairs in search of food.

Pinako looked up at her in surprise. "Oh, good morning, Lissa. You're up early."

Lissa quirked a smile. "It's a habit at this point. You know Ed, he's always sleeping in, so Al and I get everything done in the mornings while he's asleep. I hardly know how to sleep past ten anymore."

"You seem to know my sons quite well," Hohenheim observed quietly.

She forced herself to look at him, seated at the kitchen table like he belonged there. "I do," she told him honestly. "I've been traveling with Ed and Al for almost four years now. They're like family to me at this point. I'm lucky to have them." Well…he couldn't miss that barb.

Yet it didn't seem to faze him. "Then you have my gratitude, for looking after them."

 _That sounds more like a threat than it should._

"And how is Alphonse?" he continued, as though this were a perfectly normal situation, when it absolutely was _not_. "I've heard about his…condition, of course, but even so…"

Lissa quelled her rage that he'd only deigned to ask about this _now_. "Al's a good kid. He's doing better than anyone would give him credit for." She wondered what he'd even say to Al… How he'd handle that situation… Al didn't hate him like Ed, but he wouldn't like being talked down to very much either.

"So he's…" Hohenheim searched for the word. "Coping, then?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at him. "If you have something to ask me, go ahead and ask. There's no reason to dance around and pretend everything's normal. None of our lives are. I get along so well with the boys because we _all_ have some demons in our past. Ask me whatever you'd like." There. It was better to just…get it out, she figured, rather than keep up this stupid charade. She hated playing games.

Frustratingly, he _smiled_ at her, sort of condescendingly. "You have a lot of fire in you, I see. Well… I suppose I'm asking if he's angry with his situation."

"Angry?" Lissa raised an eyebrow. "No. He's not _angry_. Nobody would enjoy that, but he isn't angry and he isn't resentful, either. Just…determined to get back to normal, that's all." She shrugged faintly. "That's what I've been helping them with."

"A noble cause, I suppose. And what drew you in, may I ask? Why would you be so invested in their journey?" He gave her a curious look. "What about your own plans?"

Lissa almost laughed. It was just _so_ ridiculous, his interest in this. "Because I care about them. It's just that simple for me. I'm a state alchemist, and I don't have a say in that—but I chose to help Ed and Al because I care about them, and that's enough for me."

He inclined his head towards her, a kind of concession. "Then I suppose I'll leave them in your capable hands."

She recoiled in shock. _Did he just say…_

Pinako eyed him, frowning. "You're leaving so soon?"

"I'm afraid so. I have important business to handle elsewhere in Amestris." Hohenheim stood and adjusted his jacket, and only then did Lissa notice he was in the same suit as the day before, fully dressed, ready to go. _Already running away… The coward._

"Hmph." Pinako crossed the kitchen and stuck her head round the doorframe. "Ed!" she yelled, towards the stairs. "Get out of bed already! Your father's about to head out!"

Lissa retreated a few steps from Hohenheim as he crossed the room, pausing at the corkboard of photos and pinching the bottom of one picture between two fingers. "I… I'll go check on him," she stammered. She was too angry to linger, too upset on Ed's behalf to even try and stay to watch this man leave. How he could possibly go racing off again, away from the child he hadn't seen in ten years…she just didn't understand it.

Thankfully, Pinako seemed to sense her internal struggle. "Why don't you go on and see if he's hungry. I know you kids will be off to Central soon, and I'd like to send you well fed, at least."

She stared for one more second at Hohenheim, still fixated on that photograph, before turning and retreating upstairs. Lissa only wished she'd had the guts to give him one last parting shot. But then again… Was it worth the effort? He wasn't receptive to it anyway.

Sighing, she opened the bedroom door and stepped back inside, kicking the door shut behind her.

"Liss?!"

She staggered as Ed suddenly flung himself against her, folding his arms around her so tightly it almost hurt. "What—what's going on?" She pulled back enough to see his face, to take in the sheen of cold sweat still lingering, the panicked tightness around his eyes…

"I—I thought…" He suddenly jerked backwards and shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's stupid."

Lissa frowned at him, worried. "Did you…have a nightmare?" she edged.

Ed passed a hand over his face and shook his head. "I mean, I did, but that's not… It's not what I…" He swallowed visibly, his skin pallid, golden eyes still fraught with anxiety. "It's nothing, Liss. Sorry. I just heard what Granny said and I…"

She pressed a hand to her mouth as it clicked inside her head, the words he wouldn't say. "Ed… Did you think that I'd…left you?"

He winced and hid his face behind his hands. "It was stupid. Just a stupid gut reaction."

So he'd woken up from a nightmare to Pinako yelling about his father leaving…and somehow, somewhere in his mind, it had been twisted around into this fear that she herself was leaving too… Because he'd woken up alone and she hadn't been there… It broke her heart, it truly did. He was so wrecked by Hohenheim showing up that for a moment he'd actually thought she was gone.

Lissa crossed to him slowly and slid her fingers around his wrists, gently tugged his hands off his face. "Ed… I'm not going anywhere," she whispered once he looked at her. "I said you were stuck with me, didn't I?"

He averted his eyes. "You could change your mind."

"Change my mind?" She pulled him in closer and looped her arms behind his neck, so there was nothing he could do but look at her, nowhere else to take his gaze. Ed's eyes were…always so, so beautiful to her, that impossible golden color… But he was so _afraid_ , she'd hardly ever seen him scared like this… Was he really so afraid of losing her? "But why?" she asked him softly. "Why would I want to be anywhere but with you?"

Ed's mouth fell open, lips parting just slightly. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her face, see the faintest tremor in his jaw… His eyelashes were even blond, she noted, that same warm golden color, like pure sunlight…

"Liss…" He breathed her name, the faintest whisper, as that deep, aching fear faded from his gaze. His eyes widened, almost imperceptibly, and Lissa heard his breath catch. What had he realized? What was going on in his head? She thought she knew, most of the time, but this was… Something so different… She'd never seen anything like this on him before… This sense of…comprehension, like something had slotted into place inside his mind…

Lissa wanted to ask… But she never had to.

Ed's lips were impossibly soft as they pressed into hers, a whisper of contact, tentative, giving her time to pull away, to withdraw… Yet when she didn't, he kissed her again, drew her into him with a hand on her hip, fingers brushing underneath her shirt, asking, not demanding… And Lissa was powerless against him, every part of her alive under his touch, the warmth of him, his lips against hers like they were _meant_ to be there, as though-

She stumbled as he yanked back, stared at her in horror for a moment—and then ducked his head and raced for the door.

"Ed, no!" Lissa jumped into his path, caught him against her, aware much too late that she was shaking, her emotions flying out of control at the sudden shift. "Stop it, don't go," she begged him. "What are you doing, why would you leave?"

He wrenched free and stood there, hands clenched at his sides, chest heaving. She'd never seen him so _panicked_. "I ruined it," he breathed. "I fucking ruined— _everything_ , Liss, don't you get it? We can't, I _can't_ do that to you…"

And suddenly they were back in a hotel room in South City, with his fears about _screwing things up_ and her own insecurity between them, holding them back…

"I'm sorry," he blurted. "I'm so fucking sorry, Lissa. I want…" Ed squinted his eyes shut in pain for a moment, a shudder running through him. "I _want_ this, I swear I do, I'm not screwing with you, but I… Just _look_ at me, at my whole damned life… I can't put that on you, or ask that of you…" He curled his automail arm, the metal creaking as he pressed his fist over his heart. "You know what I am. You know all the shit that I've done and the shit I still have to do… I won't do that to you."

 _And to think…all this time…I was afraid of distracting him, of affecting his path… When the truth was something so very different…_

"Ed…" Lissa reached out and traced her fingers over the cool metal of his automail, her thumb brushing the seam where it sat against his skin, hearing his breath catch in his throat at her touch. "That night, in South City… Did you almost…"

He nodded shakily. "Yes."

She'd known—but it was good to hear it from him, to know for sure, to have that confirmation. "You know… All those things you said… I could say the same about myself." Lissa shrugged faintly, watching the spot where her fingers rested against his scarring, keeping him settled, keeping him grounded. "Look at _my_ life, Ed. Look at the things _I'm_ facing out of my own past, and what I _will_ be facing through my whole life, debt I can't pay back, trapped by the damned military… And you're worrying about something I'm already _part_ of." She looked up at him, lifting her right hand and tracing it along his collarbone, up and around, her fingers slipping into his hair to rest at the nape of his neck. "You don't see it, do you? I thought I was being obvious, and you were just…holding back."

Ed swallowed visibly, looking so genuinely confused it made her smile. "Being…obvious? I don't get it, Liss… What are you talking about?"

"Dummy," she chided softly. "You're so busy worrying about how you're _putting_ something on me… But…the thing is…" Lissa pulled him in close and he didn't resist, didn't do anything but let his eyes flutter shut as she put all her anxiety aside—and kissed him, like she'd wanted to do for so long.

She heard him suck in a sharp breath as he wrapped his arms around her, fearless this time, his left hand sliding underneath her shirt and tracing up her spine, using the leverage to press her against him. The cool metal of his automail hand rested along her hip, the weight of it grounding her, reminding her that this was _real_ , that she wasn't dreaming or imagining things… Because part of her still thought it could be a dream. A wonderful one.

Lissa's stomach tightened, muscles constricting, as he pulled his lips away from hers—only to feather soft, whisper-light kisses across her jaw, down her neck, finding her pulse and pressing a kiss there. Every nerve in her body was alight, humming, her entire being unraveling with just a few soft touches.

Slowly, as though he thought he'd scare her away if he moved too quickly, he walked her backwards, trailing kisses back to her mouth—then his lips closed around her bottom lip, just for a moment. Her knees hit the bed and Lissa sat down, pulling him with her, sliding back and letting him crawl over her. She could see anxiety lingering in his eyes, as he propped up on his arms and watched her for a moment, maybe unsure of what to do…or perhaps too nervous to do anything more…

"I'm not that fragile," she pointed out wryly, managing to make him smile. "And I'm not stupid, either… Boundaries and all that…" _Not entirely subtle, are you?_ "Just… Don't think so hard, Ed… I can see it, right here." She touched her finger to the crease between his eyebrows. "You're worrying too much."

He smiled ruefully. "I just…don't wanna mess this up, that's all. I don't want to lose you, Liss."

Lissa's heart fluttered in her chest at the words… He was _so_ sweet… How had she ever stayed away? "I'm not going anywhere," she told him softly. "I told you, I don't want to be anywhere else. I don't want anyone else." Gently as she could, she urged him down, letting him rest his weight on her more, relaxing his arms, the tension in his body… Though it made nerves twist in her stomach, she leaned up and kissed the side of his neck, the same spot she'd wanted to kiss the last time they'd been here… His sharp inhale made her feel braver, more confident, so she trusted her own instincts…and gently nipped with her teeth, right on his pulse point.

Ed breathed out harshly, then whispered her name, almost a plea… He shifted and brought her lips back to his with two fingers under her chin, kissing her harder now, finding his own confidence. They were both learning, she was aware, both new to every part of this—but there was something so…comforting about discovering it with somebody else, with so much trust and care coloring everything they did…

Lissa found herself contemplating, between kisses and Ed's thumb tracing patterns into her abdomen, if it would be too much to try and pull his shirt off…testing limits, searching for boundaries she still hadn't hit yet…

When Pinako yelled up at them, "Come on, you two! It's safe to come down now, y'know!"

She felt her face go bright red as she realized just how _long_ they'd been up there. Ed mirrored her expression, wide-eyed panic and a cherry red face—but it was just too _silly_. Lissa cracked first, laughing past her embarrassment, and Ed followed a split second later, smothering his laughter in her shoulder.

"Shit," he laughed, pushing up on his automail and grinning down at her. "I, uh… We should probably…"

Lissa giggled and nodded. "Before she comes looking for us, yeah."

With a little lingering embarrassment, Ed sat up off her, extricating himself from the tangle of limbs they'd become, and hung his legs off the side of the bed. "So, I… I don't…exactly know what to do now," he admitted quietly, as she sat up beside him.

She took his hand in hers, admiring the way they fit together as she considered it. "I mean… I'm not sure either." It was a reasonable question— _what now_? _What now_ , after spending that time together, breaking down the separation between them, crossing that invisible line… Lissa bit the inside of her cheek. They'd kissed. Not just sort-of, either. No, they'd both completely gotten _lost_ in each other, for the better part of an hour if the clock was to be believed.

 _Oops?_

"I guess…the only thing I'm really sure of is that I can't just…go back," Ed told her, quirking a smile. "And I…don't want to. I really don't."

Lissa blushed under his gaze. He was so… _certain_. "I don't either."

"We could just…" He shrugged lightly. "See how it goes. Right now it feels so big, but…I don't know that it's going to be such a huge change, in the end. More like…an improvement."

"An improvement?" she repeated, smirking. "You sound so clinical."

Ed laughed and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "Sorry. Force of habit."

"You're right, though," Lissa conceded. "And I don't want it— _us_ —to be something…stressful. I'm so tired of worrying all the time, Ed. I spent so much time holding myself back and—and worrying that I'd hurt you… I just want this one thing to be _easy_."

"Me too," he agreed. "So let's keep it that way, okay? Just…easy." Ed leaned in, pulled her close, and kissed her again, as if to prove he meant what he said.

Lissa smiled and rested her forehead on his, once he pulled back. "We really should go downstairs, though. I know we're making up for lost time and all, but…"

"Yeah, I don't…" He wrinkled his nose. "I don't wanna deal with _that_ yet."

Besides… If he was on the same page as her, then really…they had to come clean to Alphonse first. He deserved to know.

Trying to find a sense of just…normalcy in everything, Lissa knelt behind Ed and braided his hair for him, chatting absently about getting train tickets and what they'd do when they got back to Central, letting the tension fade from the air. And by the time they went downstairs, met up with Pinako to eat, settled at the table in good spirits, she was beginning to think that maybe it really _could_ be easy. Why not? Did being _together_ have to be some kind of horrible, stressful thing? Or could it just be something positive, something that _didn't_ add to all the stress they already had to handle?

 _Together._

Lissa glanced up at Ed, sitting next to her at the kitchen table, acting like everything was normal. Maybe it was. Maybe this would just be… _normal_ now.

"Granny…" He shifted in his seat, and Lissa just _felt_ his mood drop. Something was wrong.

Pinako stared at him across the table, eyes narrowed, clearly aware of the change herself. "What's going on, Ed?"

"I…need your help with something." His hand found Lissa's under the table, and she realized he was shaking faintly. Whatever this was, it had weighed on him while they ate, gnawed at him until he had to face it. "I need you to show me where you buried the body Al and I transmuted."

 _Oh, no._

Pinako tensed up. "So you heard your father talking last night, did you?"

Ed nodded once, his jaw clenched. "Yeah. I have to know, Granny. I can't just…pretend I didn't hear it and move on with my life."

"All right," she agreed, though she sounded unhappy about it. "I'll show you."

Lissa knew why Pinako hadn't argued—nobody could talk Ed out of something, not once he'd made up his mind. She'd learned that lesson herself the hard way, ages ago, that he just simply became immutable when he wanted to.

"Liss…" Ed turned to her, looking so pained. "I…I want you to stay here."

She gritted her teeth. "You're asking me to stay behind. Ed, you know me better than that, I can't just let you-"

But he shook his head and cut her off. "This is different, okay? There's no threat, there's just…" Ed gave her a desperate look. "I don't want you to see it. The thing we made…whatever it was…it was _horrible_. I just want to protect you from something, for once. You're always doing it for me, so just…just let me do the same for you. One time, Liss. _Please_."

 _He didn't say it earlier because he was too afraid,_ she realized with a jolt. _He needed to build up the courage to ask this of me._

"I don't like it," she told him honestly, struggling to find the right words. "You know I don't."

"I know. But if I can just…keep you from having to see that thing…to see what we did…" Ed tightened his fingers on her. "Stay here. Please."

Lissa swallowed hard, forcing back what she _wanted_ to say. "Okay," she agreed, instead of voicing anything else that was inside her head. "All right, if that's what you need me to do. Just…" She cast a look out the front windows, at the grey clouds rolling over the sky. "Be careful."

So Lissa stood there, watching out the front door, as Ed and Pinako headed out under the stormy sky, armed with a shovels, and headed for the remains of the Elrics' old house.

"You idiot," she muttered under her breath, shutting the door and standing there a moment, the emptiness of the house making her skin crawl. "What a complete idiot I decided to fall for. Stupid." Lissa glanced across at the clock on the mantel, marking the time. The whole thing was so _bad_ —not what Ed wanted to do, no, because she understood what was driving him… But asking her to wait, making it so painfully obvious he was putting himself into a horrible position and he couldn't bear for her to watch him suffer, not after what had happened between them…

He was an idiot for trying to _protect_ her, of course he was. But he was an even bigger idiot for thinking she'd actually stay behind.

 _I don't care if I get punched in the face for it. The next time I see Izumi, I'm going to hug her for teaching me this lesson. When you care for someone, you don't let them go off on their own for some stupid reason. You go after them._

 _Ten minutes. Not fifteen._

Ten minutes later, Lissa strode out into the pouring rain, hair pulled into a ponytail and out of her face, carrying a newly-transmuted shovel slung over her shoulder, her mouth set in a grim line. She knew she should've fought, should've tried to convince him otherwise… But sometimes there was no reasoning with him. Ed believed so deeply that he was at fault for everything, that he needed to shoulder everything himself… And even now, she didn't know how to tell him any different.

But she thought she might know how to show him.

The road was deserted all the way to the house. Lissa was soaked to the bone by the time she saw that familiar charred tree, and turned up the hillside path that led to the burned-down house—she knew how awfully bad weather affected Ed, made him ache around his ports, so she could only imagine how terrible it was to be out like this.

At least…she could only imagine until she crested the hill and saw him leaning underneath the tree, his right hand pressed against the trunk for support, bent in half, throwing up violently, his whole body heaving. Lissa froze for a moment, stunned. He'd work himself to death this way. She watched, utterly horrified, as he coughed and retched again, clutching at his stomach with his left hand in a sort of agony.

She realized, belatedly, that Pinako had spotted her—the woman was staring at her almost…hopefully, through the rain. _Hopefully_. She wanted this to stop as much as Lissa did, but it was so, so hard to stand against Ed's will.

Slowly, Ed straightened up and wiped his sleeve across his mouth, a sharp, ragged motion.

Lissa crossed the distance between them, stood directly in the way of the half-dug earth behind her, and rested her shovel against the ground with a _thump_.

Ed jolted as he turned and looked at her, eyes shooting wide. "Lissa?! Dammit, what the hell are you doing here?! I thought I told you t-" He broke off and clutched at his abdomen again, doubling over in pain. Then he spun away and grabbed onto the tree again as his stomach gave up the fight, emptying itself again.

"That's why I'm here," she told him lowly. "Because you don't know when to stop."

He rounded on her, shaking from some awful combination of everything—anger and pain and stress, all rolled into one. "I have to do this!" he snarled. "I can't just stop, I _have_ to do this, I have to know what I did!"

"Not alone!" she yelled back, ramming her shovel into the dirt furiously. "Why the hell does everything have to be _just you_ , Ed?! How is it any better if you do it by yourself?!"

"Because this is my burden! Not yours, not anyone else's! It's not your fucking place to get involved!" He tried to shove past her, tried to just force his way through—but Lissa swung the shovel up and blocked him. "Let me through," he growled, golden eyes burning with rage.

But she held her ground. "Fine, be angry with me!" Lissa told him fiercely. "Go ahead, scream at me! Say whatever you want, Ed! I'm not moving!"

"Get out of my way!" He grabbed the shovel and yanked it from her hands, tossed it aside.

But she'd been expecting that. She lunged forward and caught his wrists, holding down as tightly as she possibly dared, and dug her heels into the ground. When he jerked against her grip, trying to yank free, Lissa shoved him backwards hard enough to force him to stumble a few steps back, his eyes suddenly going wide as he realized, in his weakened state she was actually strong enough to hold him. "You listen to me, Edward Elric!" she snarled, furious. "You listen to what I have to say because I'm _tired_ of having to tell you this every time something happens!" Lissa swung her arms down and pinned his hands to his sides, stepping up so she was only a couple inches away, staring right into his eyes. "You don't have to do everything alone! You've got to stop trying to put everything on your shoulders when you have people around you who _care_ , who want to help you—people like _me_! I'm not an idiot, I know damn well what I signed up for when I chose to go with you! I didn't do it because I thought it'd be fun, because I didn't know the risks—I knew it'd be hard, but you know what? I did it anyway! And I'm _still here_ , I'm still right fucking here! Because I _care about you_! And you don't let someone you care about run themselves into the ground, not unless you're right there beside them!"

Overcome, Lissa released him—but he didn't move. He just stood there, staring, chest heaving so hard it made her eyes burn with tears.

"I won't let you do this alone, Ed," she breathed, her anger fading into sorrow, though her resolve didn't waver. "I care about you too much to let you shoulder this all by yourself. I'm here. And I'm not going anywhere, you understand? There's not a damn thing that's going to keep me from looking after you." Lissa picked up the discarded shovel and jabbed it at the makeshift grave behind her. "You have two choices. You can fight me, and I can knock you on your ass and do this myself. Or you can do it with me, and let me watch over you. But I'm not leaving, no matter what you do."

It took a moment—but finally, Ed nodded slowly, accepting it. "Okay," he agreed quietly. "I guess I can't stop you."

"No," she told him bluntly. "You can't."

He was angry with her, she knew that for sure. He wouldn't so much as look at her as they worked, though he listened when she insisted he take a break, whenever she caught him flagging. Lissa took it as a victory when he consented to step back and sit, just panting hard and clutching at his automail—and allowing her to continue until he got his breath back and rejoined her.

Lissa thought she might've ruined everything, losing her temper that way. But she didn't know what else to do. Maybe the price of taking care of him was _losing_ what they might have… And if so, she'd just have to accept it.

Though her arms ached, her whole body hurt, though she was shivering head to toe from the cold and constant rain, Lissa didn't allow herself to stop—not until Ed suddenly let out a cry and dropped to his knees, flinging the shovel aside. She knew what had happened when he began scrabbling at the mud with his bare hands, frantic.

They'd reached it.

She tossed her transmuted shovel to the ground and watched, anxious, as Ed reached into the hole and withdrew what looked like a bundle of hair. Lissa thought she might be sick.

He staggered to his feet and raced to the bucket of rainwater Pinako had set out, sinking to his knees before it and shoving his hand inside. Lissa followed, conscious for the first time of the heavy weight of sulfur on her shoulders, the iron tinge of blood… She'd been so distracted she hadn't even noticed her extra senses until then.

"Granny…" Ed's voice came out tremulous, so small. "Mom's hair was a light chestnut color…" He lifted a shaking hand. "This is _black_ …"

Lissa swallowed back a wave of revulsion. The hair in his hand…it was unmistakably _black_ , not a trace of brown. Which meant… Which meant… Hohenheim was _right_. The thing the boys had transmuted couldn't possibly have been Trisha Elric.

But even so… They had to confirm it. Lissa knew that. This wasn't enough proof to quell Ed's distress.

"Lissa… Come help me with this," Pinako asked her quietly. "I need to examine the bones of that thing, to make sure we know what we're dealing with here."

"Of course," she agreed, though her stomach churned at the thought.

Ed stared up at her helplessly. "N-no… Liss…"

She just shook her head at him, though. "Don't. You've been through enough already, okay? Just let me handle this."

 _I can do this. I have to, for him._

It took Lissa nearly another hour to dig it all up—that horrible creature she'd seen just in a glimpse, a flash of something that wasn't even there. By the time she was finished, her arms were trembling from the strain, muscles right on the brink of giving out… Yet she'd spared Ed the act of digging it up. That alone made the whole thing worth it.

With a surgeon's clinical approach, Pinako examined the skeleton while Ed and Lissa watched, though she kept a respectful distance between them. She didn't dare push him, not now.

"This femur…it's much too long," Pinako mused after a moment, a measuring tape poised next to the bone in question. She shifted to the side, picked up another piece and examined it for a moment, through the rain. "And this pelvis? I'm pretty sure it's male."

Ed stared at her in utter shock. "It is?" he whispered.

Pinako got to her feet and met his gaze. "I'm sorry… But I'm afraid this isn't your mother, Ed."

For a moment, Ed just stared, his face contorted in pure horror—then he crashed to the ground, on his hands and knees, like all the strength had gone out of him at once. Lissa moved, wanted to go to him…

But then he began to _laugh_. Unhinged, wild, completely overwrought with everything. He tipped his head back, still on his knees, and stared up at the rainy sky with an unfathomable expression on his face. "Then that's it," he breathed. "It really is impossible to bring the dead back to life. The undeniable truth…" He dropped his face into his hands and laughed again, a horrible sound. "It was impossible all along!"

"Edward, now listen to me," Pinako tried, reaching for him. "You've gotta get ahold of yourself."

Lissa sank to her knees beside him, pushed her own reservations away, and gently pulled his hands away from his face. He let her, didn't fight her grip, though he kept his head bowed.

"I'm okay," he told them softly, after a moment. "It's okay." He raised his head then and regarded the skeleton, his gaze distant. "From the moment I made this thing, it's been the symbol of my despair. But not anymore… Now it's an emblem of _hope_." His eyes suddenly turned fierce, his expression hardening. "Al can be returned to normal."

Slowly, Lissa released his hands, and instead reached up to brush his hair from his face. "You need to get out of this rain," she told him softly. "It's not good for you."

Ed looked back at the skeleton, though. "I know, I just…" He swallowed visibly. "We need to rebury this. And…I'd like to make a headstone."

That was an argument she didn't want to have—so Lissa just nodded and accepted it. "I'll help you," she told him, instead of fighting any of it. "The sooner we get back, the better." She got to her feet, and then offered him a hand, wondering if he'd even be willing to accept that much. But to her surprise, he grabbed her hand and allowed her to help him stand up, leaning into her side for a moment to regain his balance.

So she hadn't lost him… Not completely. Lissa released him when he stepped away from her, watched him stride over to begin the final part of this horrific task, and let out a weary sigh. Just a little longer. She'd see this through until the end.

Lissa summoned up what strength she had left and joined him in returning the bones to the ground, a quicker task than getting them out, at least. Then she worked on refilling the hole while he transmuted a makeshift gravestone, and even found some flowers to lay at the completed grave. She marveled at that, at the way his mind worked. Lissa knew, though she'd never admitted it, what that thing looked like… She knew what the boys had created all those years ago. It looked so…inhuman. And now they knew without a doubt it hadn't been their mother. Yet Ed still treated it like a human, giving it a grave marker and flowers like a proper creature… He was a remarkable person, he truly was, finding something _human_ to focus on even here.

When the job was done, Lissa transmuted her shovel back to its base components, unwilling to bring it back as a reminder. While Pinako started the slow trek home, trusting the two would follow, Lissa waited for Ed to finally turn away from the grave and walk in her direction before she dared start down the road.

Lissa jumped, startled when she felt something brush the palm of her hand—but it was just Ed, looking scared and uncertain, trying to ask permission for something he'd never needed to ask about before. She grabbed his hand tightly and pulled him in closer, feeling him relax into her.

"It's okay," she told him softly. "It's over, Ed."

He nodded wearily. "Yeah. Now there's just everything else to deal with."

* * *

He had to call Izumi. There was nothing for it. Ed's teacher was the only other person he knew who had committed the taboo, and he needed to know if her case was the same as his.

Lissa had no part in it, she knew that much, and there was still this awful distance between them anyway… So she left him to make his call and sat out on the porch instead, now that the rain had finally ceased, watching the storm clouds blow away. What would happen now? They'd argued… Not even a traditional argument but something even worse, tied in with that awful event, the creature he'd had to face again…

She knew he had every right to not take whatever they had any further. Lissa accepted that. It didn't make it any less painful to consider, but she was fully aware that Ed could resent her for what she'd done.

The front door opened, light pooling on her for a moment before the door swung shut again. Lissa sat quietly, immobile, as Ed stepped down and sat beside her. "How'd it go?" she asked him softly. "With Ms. Izumi."

He sighed roughly. "She hung up on me. I don't blame her… There's no right way to react to that."

Lissa just nodded—it wasn't really surprising.

"Are you…" Ed paused a moment, seeming like he was wrestling with something. "Are you avoiding me?"

She looked at him, baffled. "Avoiding you? No, I'm not avoiding you… I just…wanted to give you space, that's all." Lissa wrapped her arms around her knees and stared out across the fields. "I'd understand if you're angry, Ed. After everything I said to you… I… I won't apologize for it, I stand by what I said, but…I'd still understand you being angry."

"You think I'm _angry_ at you?" Ed's voice wavered dangerously. "I—I thought _you_ were angry at _me_ , Liss. I thought…after what happened earlier…"

"Well, we're quite a pair, aren't we?" she muttered, smiling ruefully at him. "I'm not angry with you, Ed. You just…scare me sometimes, you know? I'm so worried that one day you'll forget completely that you need to be taken care of, that you have to look after yourself too… That's why Al and I promised to look after you… But…" She twisted her mouth up as a strike of anguish tugged at her heart. "I don't know how to protect you from yourself."

He bowed his head, all the way down between his knees, his shoulders beginning to shake. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to protect you from…from seeing that… I wanted to take care of you for a change, and I couldn't even do that."

"But I didn't need you to do that for me," Lissa explained gently, though Ed didn't look up. "I'd already sensed plenty, I knew what I was getting into… You keep forgetting, Ed… I was here only a few days after it happened. And even then, I could sense what was lingering in the air, even though I didn't know what it meant. And I… That night…" She felt a shudder run through her, and that _did_ make him look up, forehead creased in worry. "I've never had this happen since, but it's still clinging to the energy there, so I suppose…it's stronger than most everything I've sensed…" Her fingers seized on a loose thread hanging from her shirt and tugged, sharply, ripping it free. "When I went into that house, back when I was eleven… I _saw_ that thing, Ed. Just a glimpse when I first walked into the room, like an echo… I've never had something like that happen again, but I know what I saw. You didn't need to protect me from something I'd already seen."

"You… _saw_ it?" Ed rasped, jerking upright. "But…Liss… You never _told_ me, I had no idea, how…"

She twisted the thread between her fingers anxiously. "I…thought you'd think I was crazy. I'm sorry, I just…never knew how to say it without it sounding…even worse." She averted her gaze, unable to meet his eyes any longer. "I'm sorry, Edward."

His fingers crept onto her leg, thumb tracing a circle through the fabric of her trousers. "You hardly call me that anymore, you know."

That was…true, but why was it so important in that moment? "And you're the only one that calls me _Liss_ ," she murmured. "I don't get where you're going with this."

"Just… I mean… That's not how we are. We're closer than that, we don't judge each other for things like that… I don't _understand_ the things you sense, I don't know what it's like to feel that… But that doesn't mean I'm gonna think you're crazy, either. Fuck, sometimes I think _I'm_ crazy just from…seeing that…thing…" His fingers tightened on her leg. "You don't have to hide things from me. Okay?"

Lissa finally looked back at him, resting her hand atop his, and asked, "Would that have changed what you asked of me today?"

"No," Ed admitted quietly. "It wouldn't have. I still would've wanted to protect you from that."

"You don't need to protect me from your past," Lissa told him after a moment, choosing her words carefully. "We both have some horrible things in our pasts… I still don't even know the extent of what happened to me, _if_ something did… I'd be the worst hypocrite if I said you shouldn't try to, y'know, protect me… I mean, you've said yourself that I have a habit of jumping in front of you. But _this_ … This is just…something you've experienced, not something that's threatening you… And I don't need protecting from _you_."

He raked his automail hand through his bangs, tugging too hard. "Most of the time I feel like you do. I mean, look at me. I'm a fucking mess. And I…screwed everything up, too."

Lissa stared at him for a moment, wondering, trying to see if he really was saying what she thought he was. She knew that look. She'd seen it before—in Rush Valley, in South City, here in Resembool just the night before…

"I thought I did," she whispered, inching closer, and closer, until she could take his face between her hands. "I knew when I went after you that I was risking… _us_ … And I decided it was worth it, that I'd give that up if it meant protecting you. I'd do it again, too. I don't know if that makes any sense, losing you to protect you, but…"

"You know… It's silly, but…when you got so upset with me, I…" The faintest smile touched his lips. "I couldn't help but remember the first argument we had."

She frowned, trying to recall exactly what he meant. "Which one? The mining town?"

But he shook his head, actually smiling now, resting his face into her hands. "No, way earlier than that. When my dumbass twelve-year-old self thought you were working with Mustang, like you were some double agent or something. It sounds so stupid now. But… It just made me think of that, the way you got so angry at me, all because you wanted to _help_. I remember being so surprised that you _cared_ so much, enough to risk me yelling at you again…because I didn't see how some girl I'd only met once could actually wanna be around someone like me that badly. Al I can understand, he's a better person than I am, but me…" Lissa wanted to argue that point, but Ed talked right over her. "And today, I dunno… I just saw the same thing in you."

"What thing?" she asked, frowning.

Ed gently pulled her hands off his face—only to brush her hair back so he could see her clearly, like he was searching for something.

Lissa scrunched away from him, baffled. "What, Ed?" she tried again, crossing her arms.

He grinned. " _That_. You're so damn stubborn."

"Well, so are you," she muttered. What was he getting at here?

Ed pressed his lips together a moment, holding back a laugh. "Okay, yeah, I am, but that's not…" He shook his head fondly. "You're stubborn about the people you care about, Liss. It's different. You get your heart set on someone—and it can happen so _fast_ , I mean, you made up your mind about me the first time you ever saw me. And once you do… Once you decide they're worth your effort… You'd do anything for them. Even yell at them, if it means looking out for them."

She felt her face heating up at his words. She'd never really thought about that, but it was true… Lissa had a finite list of the people she cared about, and she'd gotten into trouble before by making snap decisions about people—yet once she _did_ put somebody on that list, well… She'd yet to reach the limit on what she'd do for them.

"It's sort of remarkable to see, honestly. I don't know what the hell I did to deserve you caring about me like that, but…" He leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. "I have no idea what I'd do without you now."

"That goes both ways, y'know," she told him, bringing her hand up to rest along the side of his neck, her thumb brushing his jawline. "I don't think you see just how much you and Al do for _me_. How much…how much _you_ do, Ed. All the time. I was this lonely kid with anger problems and alchemical abilities that basically scared everybody off from even associating with me, except for state alchemists who were kind of forced into it anyway. But…you guys changed that. Of _course_ I'm going to do everything I fucking can to protect you, because how else can I show you how grateful I am?"

"It's not like you have to make up for anything, Liss," Ed sighed, though he was smiling, leaning into her touch. "We want you around."

"Yeah, well… I think I'm starting to believe that," she admitted quietly. And it was true—despite herself, despite all her doubts and fears and the heavy anxiety she couldn't quite shake…it was beginning to sound _real_ to her, somehow.

When he kissed her this time, it was sweeter, gentler than before, a way of offering reassurance, proof for what he'd said—yet he was also _asking_ for that in return, just hesitant enough that she could pull back at any moment. Lissa smiled into it, just for a moment, before she pulled him to her, wrapping her arm around his back and closing the distance between them. He seemed so much more _comfortable_ now, than he'd been before, like the air had been cleared and some of that latent anxiety had melted away.

She pulled back slowly, just far enough to speak. "So…we're okay?"

Ed smiled and nodded. His hands slid around her waist, pulled her in closer, and she felt her cheeks redden at the gesture. "We're okay, Liss," he confirmed softly.

It made her warm right down to her toes to hear that, to know that everything hadn't been completely ruined. "Then I guess…the only thing I'm still wondering…"

"Hm?"

She scrunched her nose up. "What are we gonna tell Al?"

Ed groaned and released her, lying flat there on the porch and pressing both hands over his face. "Ugh, he's already gonna be mad that we stayed this long… Then I have to tell him about Hohenheim showing up, and about…the transmutation… Not to mention everything we found out in Xerxes… Damn. I don't even know how he'll _feel_ , I mean, we've never…" He bit down on his lip, blushing faintly. "You'd know. We've been doing this since we were kids, it's not like either of us has actually…had anything like this before."

"Well, I haven't either," she told him. Dammit but he _was_ cute when he blushed like that. She felt like she could admit that to herself now. "But we…do need to tell him. He's your brother, and he might as well be _my_ little brother too, after everything."

He nodded reluctantly. "Yeah. We will." Sighing, he sat back up and stared down the lane, thoughtful. "We should leave soon… I want to stop by the cemetery on the way out."

Of course… He'd never gotten to properly visit his mother's grave, and he hadn't managed to visit Winry's parents either. That was a necessary stop before they left Resembool, though it wouldn't be an easy stop, by any means. With that in mind, Lissa stood up and held out her hand for him. When he placed his hand in hers, she pulled him up and into her, looping her arms behind his neck and brushing her nose against his. He was…almost her height now, she realized with a jolt, having gained at least an inch or two in the past few months.

"You're… _taller_ ," she told him, blinking in surprise.

Ed grinned hugely, bouncing on his toes, almost childishly thrilled by the idea. "Wait, seriously? Are you sure?"

Lissa stuck her hand out in front of her, palm down, and held it at the same height as the top of his head—minus the antenna. Then she moved her hand back to her own head, showing him where he now came all the way almost to her hairline. "You were barely past my nose before, dummy. Now look at you."

" _Finally_! Hey, maybe one day I'll be taller than you, huh?" he laughed, grabbing her around the middle and spinning her in a circle.

She just giggled and let him, and when he set her back on her feet, Lissa tugged him in by the lapels of his jacket and kissed him until she grew dizzy and starved for air. "You're gonna stop trying to do everything yourself, right?" she asked, knowing full-well she was taking advantage of his dazed state.

Ed smirked at her. "Sure, Liss. And you're gonna stop jumping in front of danger for me?"

"We'll see." She rolled her eyes. "At least let me be with you, okay? When it starts to be too much, at least just…let me _help_."

He brushed his nose against hers and nodded. "Okay. I can do that."


	27. Enlightenment

Well, look who's finally updating again, for real! I'm beyond thrilled you guys liked the last chapter - that one was a LONG time coming and I'm kind of insanely relieved it's here. About time, right?! Jeez. I've known forever when I wanted this to happen, so finally having it out feels amazing. Now! This next chapter is something I'm actually really proud of. I took the concepts explained in the anime (and in more detail in the manga) and extrapolated from there, trying to really expand on what's already there... So I hope it not only makes sense, but maybe sheds more light on what was presented originally as well? We'll see. It's not so much deviating from the source material as it is...expanding on it. So regardless, I hope you enjoy and pretty please let me know what you think!

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"So it's Xerxes first? The transmutation circle, the Ishvalans, Mustang's comments about women… _Then_ Hohenheim, right? …Don't look at me like that." Lissa prodded Ed's side with her finger, making him squirm. "I'm even calling him by his surname. But every time I say his name you look like somebody stuffed a lemon into your mouth."

He made that same face and jammed his hands into his pockets. "It's a shit thing to have to tell my little brother. _Oh, by the way, our father showed back up and he's as big of an asshole as I thought._ "

She wound her arm around his, nodding. They were making their way back from the Central City train station, a walk Lissa would hardly ever do on her own this late at night, but she didn't mind it with Ed. Two state alchemists could handle themselves no matter what was thrown at them.

State alchemists. Lissa still didn't _quite_ believe it, though she had the pocket watch hooked to her belt to remind her.

"And you're sure you don't want to start with what happened in Resembool?" she edged. That was a battle she'd lost—trying to convince Ed to talk about Hohenheim before anything else. It led into his renewed conviction about getting Al's body back, which she thought was more important than anything. But the truth was, she figured Ed was just trying to buy himself as much time as possible before he had to admit that the boys' father came back.

After a _decade_.

And he'd been a royal pain in the ass.

Edward nodded wearily. "Yeah. I'd rather start somewhere more positive, since I have the feeling Al's gonna be pretty pissed I dug that thing up without him."

"Fair," she acknowledged, sighing. "I'll help talk about all of it, too, if you need."

He gave her a soft, grateful smile. "Thanks, Liss. I'd say you don't have to, but…I don't think that'd make a difference, would it?"

She squeezed his arm. "Nope."

"Well… I'll just have to give this whole _not doing everything alone_ idea a try, then." Ed jerked his chin towards the hotel, just a block down now. "I bet Al and Winry have been so bored… It's not like they've had anything to do here while we've been gone."

"Ugh, that means they got a vacation while we did all the hard work," Lissa complained. "Lazy-asses."

They made their way into the hotel, and upstairs to the boys' room, figuring that was the best place to look for everyone. Yet outside the door, Lissa paused, staring at the wood in consternation. "They're here," she muttered, scowling.

Ed raised an eyebrow at her. "Er… Al and Winry? Yeah, we assumed that."

"No, the Xingese," she corrected. "Ling and Lan Fan are around. They feel weird to me, kind of familiar, I dunno. It's been bothering me."

"Well, old man Fu did say you might have Xingese ancestry, right?" Ed pointed out, sounding like he put more stock in it than she did. "Maybe that's why. I mean, they're the first people from Xing you've had a chance to sense, and you've definitely never met them before, so it sounds pretty plausible to me."

She twisted her mouth up unhappily. "I don't buy it. I mean, I don't _look_ Xingese, not even a little." Lissa sighed and waved him off. "Let's just go in."

Ed shrugged, letting her have that one in favor of opening the hotel room door and stepping in. Lissa followed him, pleased he'd let the topic drop. "Hey, guys! We're…back…" She nearly rammed into Ed as he froze just inside the room, the door banging shut behind them.

"Oh, hey!" Al greeted, his tone sugary with fake cheeriness. Beside him, Winry grinned sheepishly and wiggled her fingers at them. "Um…how…how was your trip?"

" _WHAT THE HELL?!_ " Ed shrieked, racing across to frenetically dart around his brother, panicking over Al's state. For the armor…was in _ruins_. It hadn't been this bad since Scar attacked them! His arm was gone, his damned _lower jaw_ was fucking missing, he was wrapped in all kinds of cloths to hide the damage, but there was no denying it.

Lissa stomped towards him with her arms folded across her chest. "Alphonse Elric, what kind of trouble did you get into?" she demanded of him, while Ed continued to stammer and flail around.

"And what the hell are _you_ doing in here?!" Ed rounded on the room's low coffee table, where Ling and Lan Fan had set themselves up with what looked like the entire room service menu, both happily munching away until he called them out.

Ling stared up at him with a drumstick still in his mouth. "Eating a delicious dinner?"

" _GET OUT!_ "

While Ed hauled the two Xingese up to boot them straight out of the room, Lissa crossed to Al and traced her hand down his chest, feeling so…horrifically sad. "Oh, Al…" His armor clanked as he shifted away from her. "Here, let me…" Lissa couldn't help the deep-set frown she carried as she unhooked the cloth covering the gaps in his armor, getting him to sit down so she could examine him more closely. He sat through it, his gaze averted, just allowing her to check exactly what damage he'd sustained.

"Seriously, how did this happen to you?" Ed asked weakly, once he'd sent Ling and Lan Fan out successfully and crossed back to them.

Al bowed his head. "A lot happened. Did you…hear about Colonel Mustang's plan?"

"To lure out whoever was behind the Fifth Laboratory?" Lissa raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, we were filled in on that. Lieutenant Breda told us some of it. But nobody said you were involved in it, Al."

He shrugged with his one remaining shoulder. "I wasn't supposed to be… But Ling told us about it, and I wanted to help. I didn't want to just…sit here while everybody else was out there fighting. They used—well… They used Barry the Chopper to lure the homunculi out, to force them to come out and face us. The Colonel's team did, I mean. Er…" Al sighed deeply and touched his hand to his head. "I should…start at the beginning."

So he did. He explained all of it—from Mustang's plan to Ling's involvement, Barry the Chopper and his human body being tied in as well, all culminating in an all-out fight with the female homunculus beneath the Third Laboratory. A battle which had ended with the homunculus _dead_ , by Mustang's hand. They had even learned that homunculi were powered by Philosopher's Stones grafted to their own physical being, like a super-powered heart. It sounded like a victory…but for two horrible, glaring facts.

Havoc had been injured, severely. At the moment, he was in the hospital, most likely permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

And after learning more about Barry the Chopper's situation, between his blood seal and his existing physical body… Alphonse had come to the conclusion that his own armor body would someday reject his soul.

At the end, Ed stood with his teeth gritted, visibly trying to remain calm for his brother's sake. "A homunculus and Barry the Chopper," he muttered lowly. "Dammit. And just to throw a cherry on top, you find out your body might reject your soul." He passed his automail hand over his face, seeming so deeply _exhausted_ for a moment. "I'm gonna have to extend what little you have left of your armor to repair all this damage…" He set about the easy part first—fitting Al's arm back in place, which thankfully had been recovered, and ensuring all the spare pieces of metal were attached. Once that was finished, Ed lifted his hands to begin the transmutation—but then paused and grimaced, looking down unhappily at the metal in front of him. "I'm worried about compromising your blood seal here."

Lissa raised her hand, feeling a bit like a child in a classroom. "I…might be able to help," she told him softly.

Winry gave her a curious look. "I thought Ed was the only one who could work on Al's armor."

"I wouldn't dare risk doing the transmutation myself," Lissa hurried to explain, shaking her head. That wasn't what she'd meant at all. "It's not really my area… But… I'm really good at sensing the arrangements of atoms, where any material is supposed to belong. That's how I transmuted the metal for your automail, Ed. So…" She stripped off her gloves and stuck them into her pocket. "If I just focus on the blood seal, and the metal directly beneath it, I can tell you if the transmutation gets too close."

Ed gave her a weary smile. "You think so? Cuz I'd feel a lot better if you can keep an eye on it, Liss."

"Definitely." Lissa tapped Al's shoulder and grinned up at him. "If that's okay with you, Al."

He bobbed his head. "I trust you."

So while Ed worked his transmutation, Lissa just rested her hands on Al's armor, palms flat against the cool metal, focusing hard on the separate particles—the iron and cells and proteins holding Al there, as well as the actual components of the metal the blood seal was bound to. It was harder than she'd thought, picking out where Ed's actual transmutation went, but after a moment she got the hang of it regardless. He was careful, she noted, so careful with his brother… Despite all his worries, he didn't come close to the blood seal at all.

When he was finished, Ed stepped back while Lissa kept checking, trying to feel out the thinner places in Al's armor. She still wondered if it was possible to add metal, if they used only identical components, and attached all the foreign material separate from his blood seal… But that was a task for another time. "You feeling okay, Al?" Lissa asked him.

He nodded, a bit brighter this time. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks, Lissa."

Winry approached Edward tentatively, looking worried. "Ed? He'll be able to get his body back, right?" she fretted.

Ed turned a fierce look on her. "Yeah, of course he will! I told you I'm gonna get it back." He sighed, visibly weary, and sank onto the sofa heavily. "Al… There's something I've gotta tell you," he began. Lissa watched him steel himself, his eyebrows furrowed—and realized, much too late, that their original plans had changed. There was no way they could talk about Xerxes first, not with the bomb that had been dropped about the armor rejecting Al's soul.

He had to talk about Resembool first.

Lissa crossed to sit beside him, her heart aching in her chest for what he had to admit, what he had to relive. She'd interject when there was space—but it wasn't her job to break it to Al. That wasn't something she could interfere with.

"We dug up the body that you and I transmuted in Resembool," Ed told his brother, carefully keeping his eyes averted, like he couldn't actually meet Al's gaze when he spoke.

Al leapt to his feet in shock. "What?! Why would you do that?" he gasped.

That _did_ make Edward look up at him, turning fierce again, though his shoulders were tense with stress. "Because, Al… I found out that the thing we buried wasn't really our mother."

And now it was all out in the open.

"But…" Al wavered where he stood for a moment, before sitting down heavily on the stool, unable to keep his feet under him any longer. "H-hold on a minute… Then that means…" He gripped at his helmet in distress, overwhelmed by the information.

Ed's face was much too pale when he spoke. "The thing we made… I don't know what, but it was something completely different."

"But if it wasn't, then what happened to me?" Al turned to Ed frantically, believing as always that his brother had all the answers. It was so…innocent. Sometimes it was so easy to forget that Al was only fourteen, but at moments like that, it was impossible not to see it.

Ed gave him a stern look. "That's just it. This has actually convinced me that we can return you to normal."

Winry's eyes widened. "Ed, are you sure?"

"Yeah… But… Before I start explaining how…" He glanced sideways at Lissa, his cheeks going faintly pink, and she wondered what he was thinking about. "Well, uh… Winry… Do, um, uh… Do you remember…when Al and I got in a fight when we were kids about…who'd marry you?"

Lissa felt her stomach knot. _That…would make sense, I guess… Ed and Winry… They were childhood friends, after all…_

A little insecurity gnawed at her heart. _What if…what if they…_

Something brushed the outside of her leg, just lightly, and she looked down to see Ed's automail resting against her.

 _Damn. He saw right through me._

"Huh?" Al looked at Ed in confusion. "The fight we were talking about on the roof of the hospital?"

Ed nodded tightly. "Yeah, that one. Al told me you turned him down, Winry."

Looking thoroughly baffled, and not a bit awkward, Winry nodded her confirmation. "Mmhmm. Turned you both down."

Crossing his arms, Ed wrinkled his nose and amended. "Whatever. The question's for both of you, anyway." He eyed them. "What was your reasoning? I need you both to say it."

Winry and Al looked at each other. "She said…" Al began slowly.

"I just don't like men who are shorter than me," they both replied together.

Ed yelped like he'd been struck. "You can't judge a man for something he can't help!" he whined at them, upset just at the notion of it. Lissa hid a grin behind her hand, amused by his reaction—even she could admit it was funny, being taller than him, but she didn't usually rib him too much. He heard it from too many other sources.

Winry raised her eyebrow. "Uh… I don't really see how this has anything to do with getting Al's body back," she pointed out dryly.

"C'mon, ease up," Lissa admonished gently. "Where were you going with that?"

He sighed and leaned against the back of the sofa. "Well… I had to be sure, just like we talked about. Al had a memory of something I don't recall—and you seem to clearly remember it the same way, Winry. Which means that it happened, without a doubt. So, now that we know you remembered something real, then we also know for a fact that it really _is_ Al bonded in there." The faintest smile touched his lips. "I pulled you out, Al. I actually did it. I know it was only your soul, but that's just it. If I was able to pull that much of you out…then I've got a hunch that your body's still in there, and I can pull _it_ out."

Al stared at him, armor clinking as he shifted. "You think my body's still in the portal, existing separately from my soul," he realized softly. "But…how did…digging that thing up…prove that to you, Ed?"

Lissa snagged the thread, pleased she had somewhere to help. "We talked about this on the way back from Resembool. Here, look at it this way. Alchemists tend to believe a human is made up of three parts. Mind, body, and spirit, or soul. And alchemy has proven the soul can be separated from the body. You're proof of that, Al. So's Barry the Chopper, and Number Forty-Eight from Laboratory Five as well. The body and soul are obvious. The body is the physical being, and the soul is the essentials to fill the body, the stuff that makes a person who they are. Which just leaves the mind."

"And the mind is something alchemists still struggle to quantify," Ed interjected. "But I believe the mind is what acts as a bridge between the soul and the body, allowing them to connect and communicate. It's how we learn and experience things—how a person can be taught information that isn't inherent to being a human like breathing is, for example. The body can perform things the soul has taken in, because the mind bridges the gap and makes the immaterial tangible."

"Memories are part of that transfer of information. The mind is what takes an experience, or a piece of knowledge, and transfers it across to the soul. And vice versa, too. It can retrieve memories too. The same way you two just recalled that memory from when you were little." Lissa watched Winry's face, mostly—her friend was at a disadvantage, not being an alchemist. She didn't want to leave her behind. But Winry was listening with rapt attention, focused, showing no signs of confusion, thankfully. "Now, if I asked you where memories are stored, what would you say?"

Winry shrugged faintly. "The brain. Where all information is stored, right?"

Ed clicked his fingers almost triumphantly. "Exactly. And that's what's weird here, isn't it? You, me, and Lissa—we all have physical brains right _here_ , with all our memories intact. So the question is…where's Al getting his memories from?"

"Couldn't it just be through the blood seal?" Al asked, pointing at himself thoughtfully.

"We did wonder… But that seal isn't meant to do anything but attach the soul to that suit of armor," Lissa explained, with a shake of her head. "It can't store anything or do anything outside its base function—that's not a hypothesis, that's just how alchemy works. A blood seal only attaches souls, and even if that weren't the case, it'd require a separate toll every time you recalled a memory, just to satisfy the Law of Equivalent Exchange."

"You're also storing _new_ memories," Edward added, sounding more exhilarated now, as they came closer to the heart of the matter. "And those have to go somewhere. Which means the connection between the body and the soul, the _mind_ , still exists. The sheer ability to store memories and learn new things, as well as recall old memories with perfect accuracy…means the original location of those memories is still intact."

Al gasped, shifting to lean forward, looking between them both excitedly. "Wait—so you're saying… Because I can remember things from before my soul was attached to the armor, that means my body's still out there?" He jolted with a sudden burst of inspiration. "Oh! Just like Barry's body! His soul was existing separately from his body, but he still knew who he was and had access to all his memories. He said his body and soul were being drawn together somehow, too… Which means the mind is the part doing that, right? Trying to make the body and spirit whole again. I only put together the part about this body rejecting my soul, but… But his experiences prove that preexisting memories require a functional body to remain. Right?"

"Right!" Ed leapt up and rapped his knuckles on Al's armor, his expression fierce. "What did you see in there, Al? Try to think back to when you were inside the portal. When I was there…I thought what I was reaching out to was mom, but now I know it wasn't. So what did you see? Can you remember what happened when the Truth unraveled you?"

Al's eyes dimmed as he focused hard, trying to recall it. Lissa knew it had to be difficult to remember something so awful. "I reached out… And it was _me_! It was _my_ hand I grabbed!"

Ed grinned fiercely at him. "I knew it! Doesn't look like we're done with the Truth yet, Al. Your body was only taken as a toll—that's what I said, instinctively, one of the first things you heard me say after our transmutation failed. That you were _taken_. You didn't die—your physical being was just taken as a toll for the transmutation, along with my leg. Your body is still in the portal—which means we can go in there and pull it back out!"

"Brother…" Al's voice shook as he spoke. "After the portal… I remember looking at you from _inside_ that thing. The thing we thought was mom!"

Ed looked for a moment like he might be sick. "You were inside of it? That thing was _you_?"

Al nodded hesitantly. "I guess so… But my soul didn't bind. It must've rejected me right away. So that means…we didn't harm anyone else's soul after all."

Someone knocked on the door, startling all four out of their conversation.

"Mr. Elric?" Lissa recognized one of the bellhops, speaking through the door. "You have a telephone call from Mrs. Izumi Curtis."

Ed and Lissa shared a quick, sharp look. Izumi. Lissa hadn't expected for her to call back, after she'd hung up on Ed like that in Resembool… But apparently something had prompted her to seek him out—and it had to be important, considering she'd traced them all the way to this hotel. "You should go," she told him softly. "She wouldn't go to all this trouble just to be upset with you."

He nodded, visibly steeling himself, squaring his shoulders. "Yeah. You're right." Ed crossed the room then, pausing just long enough to kiss her forehead gently, and stepped out of the room without another word.

Al stared at the door uncertainly. "I… Lissa, is this about…"

"It is," she confirmed. "It affects you too, you should probably go hear what's going on."

But he didn't move yet. "When brother talked about…digging that thing up, the body he and I transmuted… He didn't say _I_. He said _we_." Al looked at her, his posture tense, hands fisted atop his legs. "Did you…help him do that, Lissa? Did you help him dig it up?"

There was no lying, no point in covering her involvement. "I did," Lissa admitted quietly. "He didn't want me to at first—some kind of chivalrous notion about sparing me, I dunno… But I went anyway. I didn't want him to face it alone, you know? He… I know he regretted having to do it without your input, Al, but it was weighing on him so much."

"No, I'm not upset. I understand. I'm just…glad he didn't have to do it alone." Al stood up and made for the door, resolute now. "I'm going to see what Teacher has to say."

With the boys gone, Lissa cast her gaze to Winry, who seemed a bit…shaken. She didn't blame her, that was a lot to take in, even for an alchemist, for someone who had experienced so much… Lissa had the advantage of having seen the house, too, and now seen the remnants of that body—not to mention the brief echo she'd glimpsed. And she'd talked at length with Ed about all of it, on their train ride back from Resembool. This was all new for Winry. "You holding up okay?" she asked the other girl quietly.

"Wha—oh, I'm okay," Winry dismissed quickly. She sat down opposite Lissa, worrying her hands in her lap. "I just… Those boys have been through so much, haven't they? I can't even understand half of it, not really… I mean, on a certain level I can comprehend the facts, you know, but the things they've seen… This… _portal_ , and what Ed calls the Truth… I can't even begin to fathom that."

"You and me both," Lissa sighed. "Ed's told me about it plenty, over time, but… I don't think it's something anyone can really _understand_ without seeing it. But I understand enough. That entity, the Truth, whatever you want to call it… That's the thing that hurt Ed and Al. I've never told them this, you know, but…I don't think that entity plays by Equivalent Exchange. All they've told me just makes me hate it because it seems to take _so_ much and give almost nothing in return."

Winry frowned across at her, leaning forward over her legs and resting her elbows just above her knees. "What do you mean? I thought all alchemy obeyed the Law of Equivalent Exchange."

Lissa slid her gloves out and tugged them onto her hands to keep from yanking threads out of her own clothing. "Well, yes and no. Basic alchemy requires it—you can't bypass physics, you can't alter mass, you can't make something from nothing. I could transmute this table-" She kicked it lightly with the toe of her boot. "-but I'm still limited to the elemental makeup of the wood and lacquer. There are exceptions, though. The Philosopher's Stone is one. You can ignore most of Equivalent Exchange and create whatever you'd like. The thing is… The Truth is only reachable, as far as we know, through attempting human transmutation. Which is _impossible_ , but you can't even learn that until after you try. But when somebody does try it, then a toll is extracted from them, in exchange for the shell they create and the knowledge they're given."

"Knowledge… I think I've heard Ed talk about that before. That's how he does alchemy without drawing a circle, right?" Winry bit her lip thoughtfully. "Okay, so…this…entity, this Truth thing… It takes something from the alchemist in the name of Equivalent Exchange. But you're saying you don't believe that's really what happens?"

She shook her head reluctantly. "I don't believe it. The boys think they got what they deserve, but…you can't tell me two little kids who just wanted their mom back deserved that… And besides… The Truth seems to exert irony when it takes its toll. Ed and Al's teacher, Ms. Izumi, she attempted human transmutation too. She lost her _child_ , Win. And the Truth took parts of her organs, so she can't have children anymore. Ed lost the damn ground underneath his feet and the only family he had left, and Al lost the ability to feel warmth and physical touch from anybody—which seems to directly relate to what they were trying to do. In both cases…I don't see how the physical toll _and_ the suffering taken by the Truth are anywhere near equal to transmutation without an array and a shell that can't even support a soul."

"But that…that's so _horrible_ ," Winry breathed, pressing her hands over her mouth. "It sounds like a sick joke, like—a _punishment_ instead of a toll. And you think that's where Al's body is? Oh, no… Oh, that's so awful…" She leaned forward and grabbed Lissa's hands across the table, her eyes brimming with tears. "Why haven't you told them this? Maybe it would help them, maybe they'd approach it a different way…"

"I doubt it," she admitted quietly. "Anyway, it doesn't matter if I tell them now or not. Ed's gonna be determined to get Al's body back, and Al's not going to want his back without Ed getting his too… Nothing's going to stop them. So I'm going to do the next best thing."

Winry frowned at her. "What's that?"

"When they go back to the portal, I'm going with them."

Ed was still on the phone when Lissa went downstairs, Al hovering over him, so she followed her senses and veered a sharp left at the bottom of the staircase, finding Ling and Lan Fan seated just out of sight against the wall. "Eavesdropping?" she asked them dryly, folding her arms.

Ling shrugged at her. "Well, we did get kicked out of the room. Ed hasn't forgiven us for Rush Valley, apparently. Though…" He gave her a curious look. "You don't seem to be so angry."

"A lot has happened since then," she admitted. "I usually hold grudges just as much as he does, but…I'm too wrapped up in everything else to be pissed at you. At least, for the moment. Besides…" Lissa wrinkled her nose. "You did help us out."

He grinned. "See? I'm not all bad." He patted the ground beside him. "Come on, sit. I'm interested to hear about your travels."

Reluctantly, Lissa sat down beside him—leaving a good amount of space between them—and crossed her legs. "You'd know plenty of it, since your own guard was out there at Xerxes waiting on us. Oh, that reminds me… You should probably know that he's completely nuts."

Lan Fan jolted forward, but Ling staved her off with an outstretched arm. "Fu has always been a bit eccentric. But what makes you say that?"

"He thinks I have Xingese ancestry," Lissa snorted. "Honestly, I think we were all a bit sun-dazed. No, I…" She pushed back her own judgments and tried for a little authenticity. "Thank you for helping us out, Ling. I know you're not super fond of Amestrians in general."

He quirked a smile. "Well, I can't say I like the inside of your jail too much."

"Hang on, you were in _jail_?"

He shrugged it off. "I am an illegal alien, after all."

Lissa eyed him a moment, trying to read his intentions—he played himself up to be so _silly_ and lighthearted, but Ed and Al had told her enough. He was a prince in a possibly fatal game of winning the Xingese emperor's favor, with the fate of his entire clan resting on his head. Even though he was fifteen, the same age as Lissa, Ed, and Winry, he'd been born into a vastly different world. This façade, the persona he liked to present… It was to protect himself, yes, but also to _hide_ whoever Ling Yao was underneath. She didn't trust him. She _couldn't_ trust somebody who had so much buried inside himself. "So you're still seeking immortality, huh?"

He nodded, his expression sharpening just minutely.

"But you have to know by now, we aren't going to help you," Lissa pointed out. "And we're not searching for immortality ourselves—kind of the opposite, really. Why would you stick around with our group instead of looking somewhere else?"

Ling raised an eyebrow. "I still think this is the right path. And, I have to admit… I'm curious to see what those boys will come across."

"They're not here for your amusement," she snapped, crossing her arms. "Ed and Al have been through _hell_ already. If you so much as _think_ about doing something that would make it worse, you can take it up with me. I'm not afraid of you. _Or_ you," Lissa added to Lan Fan, who had begun to glare at her. "They're my family. Try and remember that."

"I assure you, I mean the Elric brothers no harm," Ling told her, unaffected by what could be constituted as a threat. She guessed he'd heard worse. "I'm only attempting to look after _my_ family—my clan." He stuck his hand out to her then, offering a handshake. "Truce?"

Lissa gritted her teeth. Should she? It'd make it easier to work with the Xingese, crazy as they might be… And if they were going to be sticking around for the foreseeable future, then being on slightly better terms might be to her advantage. "Fine," she sighed, and shook his hand. "Truce. Don't make me regret this, please."

He beamed at her. "Never."

She sighed and pushed to her feet, not really wanting to sit there and chat—the boys were finished anyway, both heading towards the stairs to go back to the hotel room. Sleep was starting to sound _really_ damn good. "Well… Goodnight, then."

Ling wiggled his fingers at her. "Goodnight."

Lissa turned and went to follow the boys, only to pause when she noticed Ed standing a few steps above Al, the latter of whom was standing at the bottom of the stairs, frozen, like he was struggling with something.

Ed regarded him worriedly. "Al?"

"This entire time…" Al's voice came out so small and wrought with emotions, it tore right at Lissa's heart. "I've been _blaming_ myself for what happened. I thought it was me. I thought _I_ was the one who killed mom a second time."

"And so did I, Al," Ed admitted quietly.

Al covered his face with his hands, on the verge of sobbing. "Thanks, brother," he choked out. "Thank you. I wasn't the one who killed mom after all!"

 _So he… They've been blaming themselves, all this time… They thought they killed their own mother…_ Tears pooled in her eyes and she brushed them away, unwilling to give into her emotions, not here, not now. Still… To hear that the boys blamed _themselves_ for it, had been carrying that weight for so many years… It was awful.

 _But not anymore,_ she realized. _That's what Al was saying. They don't have to believe that anymore._

Ed frowned at him. "But still… None of this changes the fact that I'm the one who put you in that body. And I don't care what it takes—I'm gonna make you normal agai-"

But Al interrupted him, before he could once again set everything on his own shoulders. "Brother… I was right there with you, and I knew that there were risks," Al told him firmly. "So quit trying to shoulder all of this on your own. I—I can't watch you suffer like this, Ed. Not on your own… I can't just stand back and watch other people get hurt over what I've done." His voice cracked, his fists clenched at his sides, armor rattling as he trembled. "Like what happened to Mr. Hughes!"

That same motivation… The one that had driven them to promise to protect Ed, back in that mining town… The inability to watch him suffer by his own hand… Lissa knew that feeling all too well.

"I felt like it was my fault when I found out he was dead," Al admitted, his voice pained, unsteady. "And I told myself that if it meant other people getting hurt, then I don't even want my body back."

Ed nodded hesitantly.

"Brother… I've met other people who weren't exactly human, but they still managed to live their lives with a purpose. And even in this body… It hasn't stopped other people from treating me like I'm still human. This body could reject me anytime. But it's the same with being human. You never know when you might get sick or die in an accident. So I can still get by like this… I can life a somewhat normal life… And that's how I've managed to keep going. But now…" Alphonse wilted, his shoulders slumped, as he let himself truly _feel_ what he'd been keeping back, the emotions he only rarely showed glimpses of, tucked away behind optimism and his own stubbornness… "I can't take it anymore," he admitted, the first time Lissa had ever heard him admit he'd reached the end of what he could cope with. "Because… I can't… I can't take the nights all by myself! It's too lonely… I can't…"

Slowly, Ed walked back down to him, coming eye level with Al, offering quiet, stoic support.

"I can't do this anymore, brother," Al told him softly. "That's why I have to get back to normal."

Ed nodded firmly, something fierce and determined coming over his face. "Sure. And you're going to." He bumped his automail fist into Al's chest, a familiar, affectionate gesture. "We'll knock that Truth jerk on his ass!" He grabbed Al's wrist, yanked him up the stairs after him, pulling his brother into a run. "And then we're gonna pull your body right outta that place!"

Lissa stood there, one hand pressed over her heart, and watched them both run upstairs and out of sight, lost in their own world.

"Those two…"

She turned to see Lan Fan standing beside her, face hidden beneath her mask as always, that same brush of _familiar_ trickling down her spine at the other girl's proximity. "They're…remarkable," the Xingese girl admitted quietly. "Their ability to spring back from such depths is so rare."

"They're not like anybody else I've ever met," Lissa admitted, nodding.

Lan Fan eyed her. "You love them."

"Of course I do. More than anybody else." It didn't cost her anything to voice—because it was true, and Lissa refused to be ashamed of that. "You know, Lan Fan…" She turned to look her in the eye…but Lan Fan had already vanished. Lissa rolled her eyes. The Xingese really got off on being stealthy, didn't they?

She brushed the strangeness off and returned to hers and the boys' hotel room, walking right into a really bizarre discussion about whether or not Al's body would be rotting away.

"What the hell did I miss?" she asked, staring at the three in bewilderment.

"It's a valid concern!" Al insisted, almost pouting. "Barry's body was all rotted and gross, why wouldn't mine be?"

Lissa sighed and crossed to them, kicking the door shut behind her, and hopped over the back of the sofa to sit beside Ed. "Well, his body was out _here_ , not in the portal. I think realistically you could assume it's being held in some kind of…stasis, or at least suspended animation."

But that didn't comfort him much. "S-so… So when I get it back, I'll have to be a _ten-year-old_ again?!"

"I doubt that," Ed snorted. "I have a hypothesis, actually… I was thinking about the transmutation and trying to retrace our process. You remember how we mixed our blood to create a blueprint for mom's soul?"

Al nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I do."

"Well… Right after that we passed through the portal, where we were both deconstructed. It's a slim chance…but I think it's possible our spirits might have gotten tangled up in the process." Ed folded his arms over his chest, his mouth curled ever so slightly in thought.

"What are you saying?" Al asked him curiously.

"I'm trying to explain that our bodies might be connected somehow, even though I'm here and your body's over there." He waved a hand, as though that explained all of it, still frowning a bit. "See… That might actually explain why I'm so sho… Sho…" He bowed his head and covered his face. "Short."

Winry stared at him in shock. "He admitted it," she breathed.

"He's starting to face reality!" Al gasped.

While Ed pouted, Winry folded her arms and scowled at him. "So, you're saying you think you've been supplying all the nutrients for Al's body too?" she asked skeptically. "That seems a little far-fetched to me."

Edward glowered at her. "Well, what's _your_ explanation?" he demanded.

She eyed him severely. "You don't grow because you refuse to drink your milk."

"Don't start with that again!"

"Well, it's true!"

Lissa sat back towards Al as Winry and Ed began to bicker, not wanting to get involved in _that_ mess yet again. She'd been in one too many arguments about milk to mess with it now—Ed was much too stubborn to cave. Instead, she looked up at Al curiously, seeing his gaze focused up and away from the others. "What do you think about it, Al?" she asked him.

He looked back down at her. "Well…it kinda makes sense, actually. He's always hungry. And…it seems like he sleeps a lot, too, way more than you do. Maybe he's resting for me too."

"That's a thought," she agreed, crossing her legs and resting her elbow on the arm of the sofa. "I'm kind of the control group, aren't I? Because I've done all the same running and fighting as Ed over the last few years, but my eating and sleeping habits are pretty normal. Huh. It'd mean your body is aging at a normal pace, too, so you don't have to worry about coming back as a little kid. And, I mean…" She lowered her voice, keeping her question hidden behind Edward and Winry's argument. "That blood seal…it's Ed's blood, right? Technically it's part of him that's actually tethering your soul here. It might function as a tangible aspect of that connection."

"Huh. I hadn't thought about it like that, but it's possible, isn't it?" Al sighed wearily. "It's hard to figure all this out when there aren't any real resources, y'know? We're just kind of guessing and hoping."

Lissa reached out and patted his knee comfortingly. "We'll get there, okay? I know we will."

He tipped his head, giving her the sense that he was smiling. "Thanks, Lissa." He pointed rather slyly at Ed and Winry. "Should we stop them?"

She leaned back and folded her arms behind her head, just grinning and watching the argument progress. "Nope."

There was no avoiding it—Lissa had to see Mustang. He and Havoc were sharing a room at the hospital, and she desperately wanted to check in on him for sure… And, well… She _did_ want to check on Mustang, though she hated admitting it to herself.

She also hated admitting that she was scared shitless of how he'd act towards her.

"Are you sure you're okay to do this?" Ed asked her softly, his hand brushing against the base of her spine, a subtle gesture of comfort. The night before, they'd sort of unanimously decided to wait to open up to Al, because he'd been in such a vulnerable place and it didn't seem fair to throw something new at him on top of all that. So for now, it was all under the table.

 _For now._

"Yeah, I don't really have a choice," she admitted. "I need to see how he's doing, anyway… Doesn't matter if he was never my favorite person, he's still one of just a handful of people who bothered to look after me when I came to Central. I owe him that much."

Ed's hand pressed in a little firmer, warm through her shirt, and Lissa had to force herself not to tilt back into his touch. "Okay. Just tell me if you need to bail, though."

But she wouldn't. She _couldn't_. Because when Al told them the details of that night, on the way to the hospital…she'd learned that Mustang had saved him. The boy she considered to be her little brother. Lissa had no ground to stand on to run away from this.

"Here, this is their room," Fuery told the three brightly, unaware of Lissa's internal torment. He pushed the door open, and they followed him in, her trailing just behind Ed like he could protect her.

Mustang looked up as they all filed in, his gaze dark and unfathomable. "Well, this is a surprise," he observed. "What brings you three here?"

"Paying our dues," Lissa quipped, trying to hide her unease.

To her surprise, he smirked at that comment, eyes alight. "I see. Well, then, by all means." He folded his hands in his lap almost expectantly. "Tell me… Did you enjoy your trip out east? Was it…enlightening for you?"

 _Enlightening. What an ass._

But Lissa knew what he was doing all the same—finding normalcy, treating her the same as always. Erasing the awkwardness between them. "Oh, _very_ enlightening," she agreed. "About a lot of things."

"I'm glad to hear it."

And that was it—that was all she needed to know she hadn't _completely_ made him hate her. Lissa would find space to apologize later, without such a crowd, but…at least she hadn't been a total screw-up. That was nice to know.

From there, conversation was able to move on, specifically to Riza's uncanny ability with distance and spatial orientation that allowed her to map out a radius for the location of the room where Mustang had taken down that homunculus. Lust, apparently. So Lissa's theory about the Seven Deadly Sins was spot-on—Greed and Lust.

She frowned over Ed's shoulder as they regarded the map Riza had marked on, scanning the radius. That area under the Third Laboratory had to be important…and they needed to find it.

"That's…Central Command," Ed realized, sucking in a sharp breath. "But… This is even more alarming." He pressed the tip of a gloved finger onto the map, indicating a spot the circle very clearly included.

Al gasped softly. "It's the Presidential estate! Right above where we found the homunculi!"

Mustang's eyes narrowed. "Which means there's a very real possibility the Führer is connected to them."

Lissa's heart sank. The things she'd sensed from Bradley… Her suspicions about him…

"But that doesn't make sense," Al murmured. "Why did he kill Greed and his group if he's connected to them?"

"It's strange he killed them anyway. Why would he slaughter them before interrogating them?" Ed wondered aloud. It was the same issue that had perplexed them in Dublith—the Führer's decisive attack against Greed and his chimeras. He'd killed every single one of them, refused to leave any survivors, thereby cutting off an important source of information.

Lissa exchanged a poignant look with the boys. This only served to confirm her suspicions, though she wouldn't dare mention that here.

Mustang frowned deeply. "It's strange, all right," he agreed. "Damn inscrutable." He sighed, seeming a bit weary. "One thing's for sure: the enemy's infiltrated high up the command, so extreme caution is necessary at all times." He flicked a pointed look up to Ed and Lissa. "And Fullmetal, Starlight… Watch yourselves."

Ed glared at him, but Lissa just nodded. She'd take the concern right now.

They left shortly after, all a bit baffled and much too wary to speak of their concerns out in the open—but she could tell the boys had recalled her worries from Dublith. The fact that the radius for that place under the Third Laboratory intersected with the Presidential estate… _Damn_ , she hadn't actually been hoping her theory was correct! The Führer being involved was a whole new level of crazy, not to mention _terrifying_ , if the head of their entire country was involved with these homunculi…

"Well, I think it's obvious what our next step is," Ed sighed as they walked.

Lissa nodded solemnly. There was only one option. "The Third Laboratory. We have to try and find this doorway you guys found, Al."

"Yeah, but how?" Al asked, crossing his arms. "We can't just go walking in, not after what happened."

"Mh… You have a point," Ed admitted wearily. "Shit. We could sneak in after-hours, like we did at the Fifth Laboratory. I don't wanna go too deep, I just wanna see what's left, so it wouldn't be as dangerous. Plus, we have a better sense of what we're dealing with now."

Lissa smirked and prodded his side. "Or we can just go in the front door."

"But…how?" Al stared at her in confusion.

Ed nodded his agreement. "Yeah, Liss. How are we gonna do that?"

She rolled her eyes and reached into her pocket, pulling out her pocket watch as comprehension dawned on his face. "Dummy. We just flash these and we're in. I…hate to say it, though, Al, but it'll be less suspicious if we go in without you."

"No, you're right," he sighed. "I'm too conspicuous."

Ed patted his arm. "Hey, Al, why don't you draw us a map of how you guys got into the secret area of that place, huh? It'll make it easier for me and Liss to figure out where to look."

That brightened Al up, at least. Lissa was glad for it—she hated seeing him down. "Then after that…I have an errand to run," she admitted.

"An errand?" Ed repeated, raising his eyebrow at her. "That's…not mysterious at all."

Lissa waved him off. "I just need to talk to Riza."

"Lieutenant Hawkeye? But we just saw her at the hospital." Al regarded her in confusion. "Why didn't you just talk to her then, Lissa?"

"Because I…needed to talk to her in private, away from everyone else," she explained hesitantly. "Away from Mustang. I know you told me everything that happened down there, but…I need to know her side of it, what she saw out of him. Riza knows him better than anybody and I know she'll be honest with me."

Ed gave her a sharp look. "You're worried you caused him to act out of line, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," she muttered. "I said some awful things."

"You thought he'd done— _that_ , though," he pointed out to her, still unhappy. "I mean, you had every reason to be upset. We both did."

"Yeah, but I got personal. I have to know, Ed."

Mercifully, Al cut in and smothered any further complaints. "I don't think Lieutenant Hawkeye will tell you any different than I did, but I understand. She does know him better. Just be careful, okay? And remember that what the Colonel did… Even if he was harsh, he saved all our lives down there. You can't forget that."

Lissa smiled up at him, taking the reminder to heart. "I'll remember, Al. Thank you."


	28. Well-Laid Plans

I...did not realize how long it had been since I updated. My only excuse is that one of my favorite bands started touring again, and I'm going to basically a billion of their shows next month (and had two last month oops) so I've been super distracted planning it all out. It's been weirdly complicated. BUT. Anyway. This is a shorter chapter, because the next handful of chapter cuts were going to be awkward otherwise. Is it filler? Kinda, I guess. It's bridging a little bit of a gap and prepping for what's up next. As you guys know, a ton of shit goes down in the ensuing episodes, so things are about to get hectic! To make up for it, I'll post the next chapter in a couple days. In edits, it's just under 10k words. So hopefully that makes up for this lil baby chapter? As always, I love you guys and thank you for sticking with me!

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After a very fruitless search of the Third Laboratory—Lissa and Ed tracked down a hastily-transmuted wall, but with the building populated there was no chance of getting in and checking the underbelly out—Lissa accompanied the boys back to the hotel long enough to call up Fuery and find out where Riza's apartment was. The First Lieutenant lived off base, in a fairly nice part of Central, off the beaten path enough to offer some privacy but close enough to HQ that she wasn't too far to be of assistance in an emergency. Lissa knew, from Fuery being a bit of a happy chatterbox, that Riza was off that night for a few hours to sleep and recover from watching Mustang all day, which fit perfectly with what she needed to do.

She made her way across to Riza's apartment and knocked on the door, rocking uncertainly on the balls of her feet as she waited. Inside, she could hear Riza's loyal little dog Black Hayate barking and growling, ever the protective little thing—but as soon as the door opened, Hayate recognized Lissa and changed his attitude immediately, running out to hop on her leg and ask for pets and attention.

"Lissa?" Riza stood in the doorway while Lissa petted the dog, hair down, dressed in civilian clothes and looking baffled. "What are you doing here so late?"

"I'm sorry to stop by like this," Lissa mumbled, standing up and twisting her fingers into her shirt. "I just…needed to talk to you about something, that's all."

Riza frowned at her. "Well, it must be important." She headed back into the apartment and beckoned for Lissa to follow, Hayate loyally trotting along at her heels. "Come on in, then. I'll make some tea and we can talk. Pardon my mess, though—I haven't had time to unpack."

Lissa followed her, shutting the door behind herself and stepping inside. She'd always had a bit of a strange relationship with Riza Hawkeye. When she was little, she'd grouped her in with Mustang since they were _always_ together, but she'd learned pretty quickly that Riza was something else entirely. She bothered to use Lissa's nickname, paid attention to her, treated her like an adult, stood up for her… Not that Lissa knew why, since it drew Mustang's ire sometimes, but she appreciated it. Over the years, she'd gotten closer with the woman, getting bold enough to use her first name and joking around with her when the situation warranted it. She knew Riza's loyalty was with Mustang, first and foremost…but that had never stopped her from treating Lissa well.

Still…she'd never been faced with a situation like this.

"So, what's got you so worked up you needed to come all the way out here just to talk to me?" Riza asked curiously, when they'd both sat down at her kitchen table with tea. Hayate curled atop Lissa's feet underneath the table, sticking close as usual.

Lissa sighed and tugged at the string of her teabag, twisting it between her fingers. "I…needed to ask you about the Colonel. Beneath the Third Laboratory."

Riza nodded slowly. "I see."

"I'm guessing…you know what I said to him," Lissa edged.

"Second Lieutenant Havoc told me. He overheard you in the alley that night." Riza gave her a hard stare. "You were upset, and you lashed out in anger—but I think we both know you took it too far. If you wanted someone to tell you that you didn't do the wrong thing, you came to the wrong person, Lissa." She softened a touch. "But at the same time…I know you have a complicated relationship with the Colonel. That must have felt like a terrible betrayal, thinking he'd done something like that."

Lissa swallowed hard and dropped her hands into her lap. "That's no excuse."

"Which is what you expect _me_ to say. You're just parroting, Lissa." Riza shook her head faintly. "You can be honest with me, you know."

"I just…" She shut her eyes tightly. "Did I cause him to lash out that way? Al told me how he was, when he fought that…that homunculus, Lust. I've only heard of him reacting like that, but I've never _seen_ it… Al said it was…really rough."

Riza let out a long, slow breath. "Did you unsettle him? Yes. You hurt him, Lissa. But you know that. However… I don't believe that's what caused him to lose control. Just prior to his attack on the homunculus, he'd witnessed her very nearly kill Havoc. And she was prepared to do the same to myself and Alphonse. If it was a factor, it wasn't the _only_ factor."

A little weight lifted from her shoulders—but only a little. There was still more here, something else that she'd brought to Riza's mind just by talking about all this. "I still owe him an apology," Lissa added. "I didn't get to do that today."

"Well, it was a little too crowded," the blonde admitted, smirking just a bit. "You'll have a chance." She sighed and steepled her fingers, resting her elbows on the table. "The Colonel might have my head for telling you this, but… I think you should know. I thought he should've told you a long time ago, actually."

"Er…" Lissa stared at her, baffled. "Tell me what?"

Riza met her gaze steadily, unwavering. Lissa couldn't fathom what it might be. "The Colonel doesn't talk about this much… He doesn't really talk about his past much at all, really. However…I've always been surprised he never told you that he was adopted."

 _He was what?!_

"I—adopted?" Lissa repeated. She knew her mouth was hanging open but she didn't care, this was just…so _shocking_. "I had no idea, I… He never said…"

She inclined her head. "He lost his parents when he was very young, and was adopted by his paternal aunt, who raised him from that point on. He's never said it outright, but I'm fairly certain that's why he took such an interest in you—as well as Edward and Alphonse."

"Like taking in strays," she whispered, feeling like her whole world had shifted for the millionth time. It was overwhelming to learn, to have to add this new facet into Mustang's personality—but it just made so much damned _sense_. No wonder he was so overbearing towards her and the boys… He knew firsthand what it was like to be left without parents to guide you. And maybe it explained why he could be so harsh… He was trying to parent them while being their superior officer at the same time, which just didn't mesh well.

She _hated_ that it made her sympathetic towards him, but at the same time, she felt a certain kinship with him regardless. Orphaned as a child, just like she'd been. No wonder he took such an interest in her when she came to Central. A young alchemist left without her parents… He must've seen _himself_ and tried to look after her, in his own way.

Riza sighed wearily, nodding at the comparison regardless of how strange it was. "Yes. You see why I'm surprised he never wanted to mention it—I suppose he was worried you'd think it was only pity that caused him to involve himself in your life."

Well…she couldn't blame that. She sort of _did_ wonder.

"Whatever else you might think of him, Lissa… He does want what's best for you." Riza smiled faintly. "He just doesn't always know how to go about it."

"It's hard to see sometimes," Lissa admitted.

The blonde smirked at her. "Well, you carry a lot of resentment towards the military, and state alchemists in general—with a few exceptions, yes, but for the most part that's where you direct most of your anger. You're biased."

Lissa gritted her teeth, but didn't deny it. She hadn't come here to be babied, after all.

"But you're still young," Riza continued, a bit gentler now. "And you're learning to look past that bias, I can tell. You-"

The phone rang, and they both looked over at it sharply. This late…it couldn't be anything good. Lissa didn't want to be rude, so she didn't follow Riza over to the phone, no matter how curious she was—and she was _so_ damn curious. What could be important enough to warrant calling over here this late? Was something going on down at HQ?

"Hello?"

Lissa strained her ears—and leapt to her feet when she recognized the tone of voice coming through the phone. _Ed? But…why's he calling?_

Riza's jaw tightened and her eyebrows furrowed sharply as she listened to whatever Ed was telling her, in a bit of a frantic tone. "Yes, she's still here, Edward. Slow down, what's got you so worked up?"

More talking. Unintelligible, no matter how hard she tried.

Riza sucked in a sharp breath. "Are you certain? I hadn't heard… The alert must have gone out after I left."

 _Alert? What alert?_ Lissa padded closer, Hayate following curiously, and gave Riza a baffled look that she hoped conveyed how badly she wanted to know what was going on.

"No, you both need to stay there. _No_ , Edward. I'll bring her back myself," she insisted sternly.

Lissa crouched down and scritched Hayate behind his ears. "Wonder why your mom's so worried," she mused. Hayate tilted his head at her.

Above them, Riza sighed wearily down the phone line. "Absolutely not. You need to stay put, especially right now. I'll keep her safe, Edward, I promise."

He complained more—until there was a sort of shuffling static sound through the phone, and Lissa heard the voice change to something lighter and younger. _Alphonse now. What the hell is going on here?_

"Yes, that's for the best. Thank you, Alphonse." Riza hung up and leaned into the counter, giving Lissa a rather serious look. "Lissa… I'm taking you back to the hotel. Now."

"I gathered that." Lissa stood up straight and crossed her arms. "What's going on, Riza? Why were Ed and Al freaking out like that?"

Riza's mouth thinned. "Scar's back."

 _Oh, no._

"He's murdered three state alchemists already tonight. All state alchemists have been ordered to find a safe place and remain there." She narrowed her eyes faintly and sighed. "I'd prefer to keep you here…but I have the feeling the Elric brothers would break my door down to get to you, so I'll walk you back myself. It's doubtful he'd still be actively hunting anyone at this point, now that he's put the whole city on alert, but I'm not taking any risks."

Lissa swallowed dryly, the action scraping over her throat. Scar. Just thinking about the Ishvalan made her stomach knot with fear—she still remembered with painful clarity the night she'd flung herself over Ed, come within a couple centimeters of dying in the street… "Will you be all right, walking back this late?" she asked, focusing elsewhere to hide her fear.

Riza gave her a look, almost amused by the concern, before grabbing up Hayate's leash and a handgun from the kitchen counter. "Come on, Lissa. Let's get you back before those boys come looking anyway."

She couldn't help but smile a bit at the comment. "They're a little…protective."

Clipping Hayate's leash on, Riza snorted. "A little? That's quite the understatement. Though I could say the same thing about you. I'd prefer _not_ to see you throw yourself into harm's way again, if you can help it."

Lissa followed her out of the apartment, feeling a bit sheepish. She'd probably always take flak for that, the most public time anybody had seen her little protective streak—or, fine, _really big_ protective streak. But as terrifying as that night had been, she didn't regret it. She refused to regret any of the moments she'd put herself in the path of an oncoming attack for Ed or Al, no matter how _stupid_ it might be, because she loved them and she wouldn't regret anything that she'd done to protect them.

The streets were devoid of regular civilians at this hour, with the attacks—Lissa stuck close to Riza as they went, a bit intimidated by the sheer volume of MPs patrolling at every damn corner. She could see, off in the distance, the smoldering remains of some kind of fire or explosion, no doubt the site of one of Scar's attacks.

"I really thought he'd died," Lissa murmured, as they drew near the hotel. "I don't want to wish death on anyone, but…after what happened before…"

Riza nodded. "I understand. But we'll find him, all right? He's making a spectacle of himself, so he won't be difficult to track down." She fixed a severe look on her. "But you and the boys need to stay out of it, all right? We know he's going after state alchemists—and he already picked Edward as a target. Now that you've been certified, he'll be after you too. So just…lay low, until we sort this out."

Lissa wrinkled her nose. "Lay low. I wish I could say yes, but I don't think Ed knows how."

"Do your best, then," she relented.

They paused at the entrance to the hotel, and Lissa found herself squirming a bit under Riza's thoughtful gaze. "What is it?" she asked quietly.

"How long has it been going on?" Riza asked in return, instead of offering an explanation.

She blinked. "What's going on?"

Riza smirked a bit knowingly. "You and Edward."

Lissa just… _stared_. She was rarely this speechless, but they hadn't even told _Al_ , they hadn't told anybody, and they'd been so careful at the hospital…

"Don't look so surprised. I'm sure you think you're being very subtle, but you know Edward wears everything on his face." Riza patted Lissa's shoulder gently. "It's sweet. Just be careful, all right? You two have a lot on your heads already, and I'd hate to see something complicate your lives any further."

She _knew_ she was blushing, but it was hard not to. They hadn't faced telling anybody yet. "We agreed to keep it simple," Lissa admitted, tugging at one of her curls awkwardly. "But…we haven't even gotten around to telling Al yet."

"You can't seriously think Alphonse hasn't noticed," she pointed out wryly.

Lissa pressed her hands over her face. "Oh, no."

Riza laughed, a rare break, and then pulled _another_ rare move—she reached out and hugged Lissa, briefly but tightly. "Look after yourselves, okay? And if anything happens…" Her gaze turned fierce. "You call myself or the Colonel."

"We will," Lissa agreed softly. "And, Riza? Thank you for talking with me. And being honest."

The woman smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "Anytime. Have a good night, Lissa." Then she turned, Hayate obediently following, and headed back off down the street.

 _Does Al really know?_ Lissa wondered, as she stepped back into the hotel and up the stairs. _Oh, man. We need to talk to him about this now, I don't want him to be sitting there stewing about it, or upset we didn't say anything…_

She reached the boys' room and unlocked the door, stepping inside—and was immediately dragged into… _something_.

"Lissa!" Al shouted, pointing at her fiercely. "Maybe _you_ can talk some sense into brother!"

Ed turned his nose up. "I'm just saying, Al, it might be our only shot! Besides, we're more prepared now, we trained more _and_ we know how that guy fights."

Lissa shut the door behind her and leaned into it, already feeling exhausted. "What the hell did I miss?" she muttered. "You guys totally fall apart without me, don't you?"

"Brother wants to go _looking_ for Scar," Al told her sharply.

She rounded on Ed, staring him down angrily. "Ed. Seriously? Why do you wanna go looking for the guy that nearly _killed_ us last time?"

"I-" He cut himself off and scowled at his brother, irritated. "Look, the fact is, we need to find out more. And since the Führer killed the only homunculus who might've been willing to talk to us, that leave us with a lot less options. We know for a fact the homunculi don't want to kill me, and they weren't exactly eager to kill you either, Lissa. Considering we're so important to their plans, if we were to be, say, attacked by Scar…"

Lissa gaped at him. "You're completely _insane_ , Edward Elric. You know that? Do you remember how badly those homunculi kicked our asses last time? What happens if they take out Scar and then decide to rough us up for screwing with them?"

He folded his arms over his chest. "Well, it's much better than sitting on our asses and doing nothing!"

"Oh, really?" Al shot back. "Scar literally tore us apart last time. Do you wanna go through that again, brother?"

Ed's resolve wavered just a little. "Well— _no_ , but we've gotten stronger in these past few months. We're better now. And it's not like we won't be prepared, he can't catch us off guard if we're literally expecting him to show up."

Al loomed over him angrily. "What happens if the homunculi _do_ show up? How are you gonna catch one?" he demanded.

"I'd like to talk to them too, Ed, I want answers just as much as you do but this just seems like a way to get the three of us killed," Lissa pointed out, crossing to them. She had Riza's voice echoing in her mind— _lay low, be careful, he'll be after you too_ —and it was enough to make her skeptical, at least. Using Scar to lure out the homunculi… That was a _huge_ risk.

Al nodded firmly. "Exactly! Thank you, Lissa! The homunculi are dangerous to mess with, they're super strong and they pretty much can't die!"

"Can't die? Was that hyperbole?"

"Or are they actually immortal?"

Lissa groaned and turned to see Ling and Lan Fan clambering in the window. _Not these guys again…_

"Why don't we lock the windows?" Al lamented.

"Because we're friends!" Ling chirped brightly, hopping inside like he owned the place. "So, we heard everything—and I'd like to offer our services in the coming battle. Count us in. We'd love to help you guys!"

Lissa glanced over at the boys, wondering. They seemed reluctant too, but intrigued at least, so she settled down onto the couch beside Ed, while Ling and Lan Fan sat opposite. It wouldn't hurt to just hear them out, she figured. They could always say no. And besides…she _really_ didn't like the idea of going after Scar just the three of them. Maybe a little help would make a difference.

"Why do you want to help us?" Ed asked skeptically, staring across at the Xingese.

Ling shrugged easily. "Well, I can't say I care about the military stuff, but it sounds like these homunculi are just what we've been looking for."

Lissa exchanged a look with the boys. Right. Ling's whole quest for immortality.

The prince picked up on it immediately. "What's wrong?" he asked curiously. "You look kinda skeptical."

Ed sighed at him. "Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the help you've already given us." He sat forward and rested his arms on his legs, eyeing Ling suspiciously. "But this…it's a bit-"

"You've got better odds with more help," Ling interjected. "And you already know we're capable fighters. I'm serious about this. This could be what rescues my clan." He gestured towards Lissa. "You said this Scar character almost killed you the last time you met him. Facing down someone who goes around killing state alchemists, and _then_ attempting to interrogate homunculi… That sounds like an awful lot to handle for just three people. Besides, we can sense them. They have a very particular energy about them."

Lissa clenched her teeth to keep from reacting. They could… _sense_ the homunculi? Was that anything like what she could do?

"So?" Ling prompted, raising his eyebrows. "How about it?"

She glanced sideways at Ed and Al, trying to communicate just through her eyes. This…was a much better plan, and from what she understood, the Xingese were pretty fierce in battle. They'd certainly given Ed and Al a hard time of it back in Rush Valley.

"All right then," Ed relented after a moment, grinning. "Just remember, we're in this together."

Ling sat back against the sofa happily. "I promise not to run off with them," he agreed. "After all, I owe you that much."

Lissa frowned at him. "What do you owe us for?"

Still smiling benignly, Ling reached into his coat and pulled out a long sheet of paper, which he passed across to Ed. Lissa stared at it over his shoulder, skimming the list…and feeling her jaw drop when she reached the bottom and saw the number indicated.

"Is this for _room service_?" Ed screeched. "You're damn right you owe me!"

Raging, Ed screamed them all the way back out the window, with Al and Lissa watching the spectacle. "That really is an impressive level of anger," Lissa noted, smirking.

"I don't know where it all comes from," Al giggled.

The door suddenly banged open, and they all cringed and turned as Winry yelled, "Will you guys shut up! D'you know how early I have to wake up tomorrow?!"

Ed grinned at her sheepishly. "Oh, right I forgot," he laughed nervously. "You're catching the early train to Rush Val-" But he broke off, his eyes going wide. "Uh, y'know what, you should probably cancel that," he told Winry with feigned ease, giving another nervous little laugh. "Why don't you stick around and relax?"

Winry raised her eyebrow. "Huh? Why?"

"Well it's just…" He rubbed anxiously at the back of his head. "I mean, it's just that… Y'know… Well… There's…always the chance that my arm could get broken. Or even…destroyed." The last word was just a whisper, barely spoken at all, but the blonde heard it all the same.

Lissa passed a hand over her face as Winry yanked out a wrench and smacked Edward with it, sending him flying across the room. "Are you _planning_ on destroying it?!" the blonde seethed. "I can't believe you!" But then her voice faltered, and she looked at all three of them sadly. "Just…promise you won't do anything too dangerous."

While the boys just looked shell-shocked, Lissa found it in herself to smile. "We'll do our best, Win."

Winry sighed deeply. "Fine. I guess I'm staying here a little longer, then. Just…" She wrinkled her nose at them. "Try to look after yourselves." She stuffed her wrench down into the pocket of her pyjama pants and headed for the door. "Goodnight."

Lissa shrugged out of her jacket once Winry was gone and threw it over the back of the couch before sitting down, swinging her legs off the side. "Ling! Lan Fan!" she called. "Get back in here."

Ed gaped at her. "Wha-"

But sure enough, the Xingese hurriedly climbed back in through the window. "You rang?" Ling teased, smirking.

"We need to figure out exactly what we're doing tomorrow," Lissa explained, considering Ed and Al were still confused as to why she'd dragged those two back in. "Going in blind is gonna get _all_ of us killed." She pointed at the Xingese firmly. "Even you guys. You haven't seen Scar fight, and we don't know which homunculi might be in the area."

"That might be a good place to start, actually," Ed pointed out, settling onto the sofa behind her. "We've fought two homunculi, though the Colonel incinerated one—so it's likely that spiky-haired one from the Fifth Lab might make an appearance."

"There's also the squat, fat one that your Colonel Mustang's team fought," Ling observed. "With the ouroboros tattoo on his tongue. I did a little eavesdropping."

Al looked at Lissa thoughtfully. "Didn't you say you knew what the homunculi were named after?" he asked her. "Back in Dublith."

Ling's gaze turned just a bit sharper. "Oh, did you now?"

Lissa nodded, reluctant—but they had to be willing to share information to work together, she supposed. "Yeah. Mustang killed Lust, beneath the Third Laboratory. And we met a homunculus named Greed in Dublith, though Führer Bradley killed him. Then Ed and I were attacked by Lust and another homunculus under the Fifth Laboratory. Al heard Greed mention Lust and Sloth. So taking those names into account, we have three of the Seven Deadly Sins. Lust, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, and Pride. Lust was…violent, especially with that ability of hers, so I'd say she represented bloodlust more than anything. But it still fits. And Greed was, well…greedy. So if they correlate to their particular sins, then…"

"What do we think…Gluttony?" Ed hypothesized, nodding. "Fat and with the tattoo on his tongue…it'd make sense."

Al shuddered a bit. "Lieutenant Hawkeye said he was trying to eat her," he mumbled.

Even Ling seemed a bit discomfited. "Pleasant. Well, we can discount Lust and Greed, then, can't we? Which leaves us with five homunculi we could meet. Gluttony—if that is the fat creature's designated sin—is a definite possibility."

"And the unnamed one with the spiky hair," Lissa mused. "I don't know who they were, they didn't give very much away. Though I'm betting not Sloth, just by personality."

"Let's assume the worst. Let's say both the spiky one and Gluttony show up." Ed crossed one leg over the other and tilted his head back, thinking. "I wouldn't wanna go up against the spiky one, they were…tough. And fast as fuck, honestly. So supposing that's who we fight, I'd suggest letting that one go after Scar and trying to capture Gluttony."

Al sighed deeply. "There's still so much we don't know. If there really are three more homunculi out there, we have no idea what they look like or how well they fight."

"Greed was tough enough," Ed muttered. "We have to assume they're all just as bad, if not worse." He eyed the Xingese for a moment. "So you guys can…sense the homunculi, right? How does that work, exactly?"

Ling shrugged at him. "They have a particular feel to them. We have the ability to sense what the Xingese call the Dragon's Pulse, the flow of energy, or chi, through all things. Alkahestrists use the same energy, just in a different manner. That day, when Colonel Mustang and his team took on the homunculus Gluttony, I got to be very familiar with the sense of them. Once a homunculus gets close enough, we'll be able to sense them and track them from there."

Lissa stared down at her knees, still dangling over the edge of the sofa, her heart thudding painfully in her chest. The Dragon's Pulse… A flow of energy in all things… The ability to _sense_ something particular from anybody, anything… "Can I ask…what do the homunculi feel like to you?"

Lan Fan tilted her head slightly to one side. "Unpleasant. The feeling of hundreds upon thousands of worms, writhing in the dirt."

Her body went cold all over. "I see," Lissa murmured, cursing the way her voice trembled. That…was _identical_ to what she felt. But what the hell did it mean?! Why could she sense something like that, when she'd never been to Xing, never even _heard_ of the damned Dragon's Pulse before that night? It just—wasn't _possible_!

"Okay, so you can track them," Ed hurried on, cutting a quick glance in her direction. "Good. Now we need to figure out how to lure Scar into fighting us in broad daylight."

"He did go after us before," Al pointed out. "Maybe if we just…walk around…"

Lissa sat upright, pressing her feet on the floor as though it'd ground her. She couldn't focus on her new discovery right now—they had bigger issues at hand. "He went after Ed, but at night, without any witnesses. And even though he got the best of us, he was still forced to retreat in the end. It'll take more than just showing up in the open to get him to go after us, I bet."

"Are you certain?" Ling inquired. "If he's attempted to kill you before and lost, he might be out for revenge."

"His whole quest is supposedly in the name of revenge," Ed pointed out, shaking his head. "So it won't make a difference. No, we need to really draw him in, we need some kind of—spectacle or something."

Riza's words rang in Lissa's head— _he's making a spectacle of himself, so he won't be difficult to track down_. "A spectacle," she repeated thoughtfully.

Ed looked up at her. "Liss? What're you thinking?"

"It's something Riza said to me earlier… How Scar's made such a spectacle of himself that he'll be easy to find. Well, the order just went out that state alchemists are supposed to be cautious, keep to themselves—he's got to know that's how the military would react, too. So…" She grinned tightly. "We just have to make an even bigger spectacle. Not just show our faces…but make a big deal about being state alchemists, too. We'll be the only damned state alchemists this city's talking about, and lead him right to us. If there's no other prey around…"

"…Then he _has_ to come searching for us if he wants to get his stupid revenge." Ed mirrored her look. "Looks like we're going fishing."

Ling clapped his hands excitedly. "Oh, this is going to be fun!"


	29. Gone Awry

Took me a few days more than I thought, oops. Anyway! I have a question for anyone who's willing to answer, and it'd help a LOT to know. So, chapter, eh, thirty right now is looking long. Really, really long. Like 13k words/20+ pages in MS Word long. And my question is...would you folks prefer just a really long chapter, uncut; or for me to cut the chapter in half and post it in two bits? I can do either one, tho right now I'm intending it in one big chunk. But I'd love to hear what you all think! So pretty please let me know, it'd mean a lot to hear! As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter - things are getting intense now, and it's been so fun to write. I love you all!

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So the next day, they set out—dressed in their usual, rather obvious attire, with Lissa donning a brighter pink shirt just to draw attention to herself—and began. Between Ed and Lissa, racing around the city together fixing things, dropping the names _Fullmetal_ and _Starlight_ everywhere they went, they created one hell of a spectacle. They tacked on their real names, too, something they rarely did in conjunction with their titles, to make it even easier. Not to mention they were both lucky enough to have pretty remarkable alchemist titles. Ed's hand-clap transmutations and Lissa's shimmery-starlight transmutations drew plenty of notice, perhaps most especially because it was a couple of very young state alchemists parading their skills through the city—and it was no secret they were talented, of course. Lissa knew she and Ed had only been able to get their certifications because of having some kind of extraordinary ability. She kept that in mind as they flaunted their talents throughout Central.

By lunch, they were exhausted enough to drop into a nearby café and take a break, getting a couple glasses of juice and remaining in full view of everyone. Lissa sat opposite Ed, while Al took the spot in the middle, all three watching the street carefully as they sat there.

"This is great," Ed laughed, leaning back in his chair. He sneezed loudly and absently wiped his nose on his glove.

"Ew," Lissa muttered.

He sneered at her. "You're the one who carries a snotty handkerchief around," he shot back. " _Anyway_ , seems like we've done a good job making a spectacle of ourselves. I'm pretty sure everyone in Central knows our names by now."

Al eyed the café's other patrons, all of whom seemed hyperaware of who exactly was there. "Well, you were a little over the top," he muttered.

Ed waved his hand. "Eh. Sometimes you gotta make a fuss."

A car pulled up just a few feet away, idling at the curb, and Lissa perked up. Was it someone begging a little help? Or something else?

The window rolled down, and she nearly spat out a mouthful of juice.

"Fullmetal, Starlight. When did you two become so theatrical, hm?" Colonel Mustang asked, giving them a sidelong look.

Ed shot out of his chair. "Colonel? Shouldn't you still be in the hospital?"

Mustang shrugged. "Probably."

Aiming for something subtle, Ed crossed to him and leaned against the open window of the car, muttering under his breath, "How's Lieutenant Havoc? I'm sure Dr. Marcoh-"

"Hold on," Mustang cut him off quickly. "People are watching us. Get in."

Lissa shared a look with Ed. "Whatever you say," she mumbled, rising from the table and obeying. Of course…with Riza driving, Ed and Lissa just barely fitting beside her, and Mustang completely crushed in the backseat by Alphonse…it wasn't really the best idea he'd ever had. Al did his best, but the armor was just too big for a regular-sized car.

"On second thought," Mustang wheezed, "let's get out."

"Much better," Lissa snickered, hopping out and pulling Ed with her.

They reconvened in a nearby alley, away from any prying eyes, for a little information-sharing session. Lissa felt awkward still, since she hadn't yet apologized, but Mustang had other things on his mind, it seemed.

"Lieutenant Breda followed your tip, Fullmetal, but…" He shook his head. "Dr. Marcoh wasn't there. His house was a wreck, too. He's missing."

Ed had suggested, via a subtly-passed-on note, that Havoc's spinal injury might be fixable with the help of Dr. Marcoh's incomplete Philosopher's Stone. It was a kind gesture, and a risk, but Lissa had been proud of him for offering it. However, this…was a bad sign with everything else that was going on. "You're kidding," she breathed.

"Shit. Dr. Marcoh's gone missing?" Ed passed a hand over his hair, shaking head in disbelief.

Mustang nodded. "Looks like it. They probably took him captive."

 _They_ being the homunculi… With their interest in the Philosopher's Stone, and efforts to keep Ed, Al, and Lissa from learning about it… No wonder. But he'd been hidden there, in his little town with his assumed name, so how the hell did the homunculi find him?

"There's something else we need to talk about," Mustang continued, a little sharper now. "I'm sure you've heard that Scar's back?"

Lissa bit the inside of her cheek. Looks like they'd drawn _too_ much attention.

Mustang eyed her and Ed severely. "So what's with the showboating?" he demanded. "Do you _want_ him to find you?"

"Actually, yeah," Lissa admitted, crossing her arms. "That's exactly what we want." _I don't think I've ever seen him that kind of angry. Shit._

Ed nodded firmly. "We need to fight him. And you can't talk us out of it."

"Have you lost your minds?!" Mustang snapped, furious. "Did you forget the way he tore you apart in East City?! He nearly killed all three of you!"

But Ed just sneered at him, unbothered. "Ooh, sounds like the Colonel's scared of big, bad Scar!" he mocked derisively. "I'm not surprised, considering how _useless_ you were against him!"

"That wasn't my fault, it was raining that day!" Mustang defended.

"Was it _raining_ when you got beat up and sent to the hospital?"

Lissa groaned and tapped Al's side. "Well, they're never gonna stop now," she sighed, leaning into him. "They'll be at it for hours."

He nodded solemnly. "I'm afraid so."

 _I sense…sand, gritty sand and burning sun and blood and…oh no…_

Her heart sank.

 _Click._

Lissa flinched back as Riza lifted her gun, pointing it down the alley with a fierce look in her eyes. There, only twenty feet away at the most…was _Scar_.

It was one thing to talk about fighting him, using him as a lure for the homunculi… But it was another thing entirely to stand there facing him down, with no other options than to fight him, without real backup, until either a homunculus showed up or they got too damned exhausted to risk continuing. Lissa swallowed hard and twitched her fingers, trying to get a feel for the ambient particles here. Just staying alive was going to take every bit of strength they had.

"I guess he got your invite," Mustang muttered under his breath.

Ed smirked. "You okay? You'd think it was raining, the way your forehead's dripping," he shot back, unable to keep from making snide remarks for a single moment, apparently.

Lissa shifted on her feet, ready. She knew the plan. They had no choice but to do this now.

Riza lifted her gun and took aim, but Ed slid into her arm, knocking her out of her stance. "Hold it! Don't shoot, Lieutenant!" he told her firmly, standing in front of her.

"What?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You can't be serious!"

Ed just grinned tightly. "I'm trying out the Colonel's sport," he explained, through gritted teeth. "I think I might be able to catch a few fish."

As Scar approached, undaunted by their group—realistically they had him by sheer numbers and force, with three state alchemists, another highly talented alchemist, and Riza with her impeccable aim—but he was _fast_ , streaking towards them with his right arm crackling with blue energy, already prepping for an attack. He dropped to the ground and pressed his hand against the cobblestones, sending a wave of destruction hurtling through the street and directly towards them.

"Go!" Ed shouted.

Lissa darted forward, skirting the destruction with alchemical energy sparkling in her wake. She kicked off the building to her left and shot herself upward, twisting midair and landing facing out on a windowsill one storey up, meeting the Ishvalan's gaze and _smirking_ as she tugged on the chain of her pocket watch.

A distraction.

Scar pressed his hand into the building, but she leapt off and caught herself halfway down with a burst of cushioning air, her first task done. At the end of the alley, the boys had time to do their part—Ed racing forward, blocking the way, and Al raising a barrier to keep Riza and Mustang out of it.

Ed yelled as he launched an attack, dragging Scar's attention away from Lissa and to him instead. She positioned herself opposite Ed, and began her own attacks—everything from volleys of compressed air, her own style; to the more physical style of using the materials around her, sending projectiles at Scar and forcing him to stay in constant motion. Al joined them soon after, all three fighting with one singular goal—to stay alive until the homunculi showed. Ling and Lan Fan were perched on the rooftops above, feeling out homunculi and keeping an eye on this fight too, with express orders not to interfere unless it was absolutely necessary.

Lissa curled her fist midair, yanking ambient particles and forming a platform beneath Ed as he leapt up to launch his next attack—giving him one last boost out of the path of Scar's own counter. She caught his grin as he leapt down, clapping his hands and sending spikes shooting out of the ground and towards the Ishvalan.

A few MPs reached the scene, and Al detached from the fight long enough to try and stop them. His excuse was also true—if they shot, they really might hit Ed or Lissa.

She saw Scar getting too close to Ed, much too close, and parted the air around her as she raced in—just barely in time to push him aside and land a solid kick into the Ishvalan's abdomen, knocking him back and away. "Careful!" she snapped, ducking under the next attack.

Ed tapped her shoulder as he twisted away, just the slightest gesture of acknowledgement. He brought his hands together again, letting her remain up close for a moment, and slammed his palms against the street. There was a lot of trust in that move, she realized, as she felt the air shifting behind her from his attack. Lissa leapt up, the air crackling in her wake as she just narrowly evaded the pillars shooting up from within the stone street.

 _He's really trusting me to fight_ _with_ _him_ , she noted, as she caught the ledge of a window and used it as leverage to push herself off, retaking her position behind Scar. _He's trusting me to handle myself. Finally!_

Lissa landed and sank to one knee, pressing her palm against the ground—she'd drawn extra transmutation circles to be able to use the same attacks as the boys. Really, she needed to get those tattooed, there just hadn't been _time_.

She cursed under her breath as Scar canceled out the attack, and spun quick enough to ruin Ed's as well. Stones cascaded from the resultant explosion, and she winced as she saw one strike Ed on his temple—blood trickled down his face immediately. Angered, she leapt back to her feet and twisted her hands midair, drawing in the ambient particles from that explosion. Blue energy crackled as she rushed forward, borrowing from her own tactics in Greed's lair to bond those metals to her gloves—and then further, reinforcing her whole right forearm along the outer side.

Scar lunged, brought his right arm forward, towards Ed… But she was still too far away!

Ed clapped his hands and rammed his right hand into Scar's, meeting in the middle with a blinding burst of alchemical energy.

 _No!_

Lissa rushed in, heedless of her own safety—she kicked off the wall just beside Scar and rammed into him with her forearm out, her bones jarring with the force of the impact. He rolled forward with the hit, away from Ed, and shoved back his feet looking…genuinely shocked. For Edward _wasn't dead_ —the attack had shredded his coat and jacket, leaving his automail exposed, but he'd managed to counter Scar's alchemy at the last damned second!

"Lucky," Ed breathed, grinning up at her.

"I'm gonna kill you or kiss you for that," she hissed at him. "Idiot."

He pushed to his feet beside her and jerked his chin at Scar, whose arm was now just as visible as Ed's. "Those tattoos," he hissed. "Remember what those Ishvalans told us in Xerxes? About Winry's parents?"

 _Oh, no. So it really is true…_

Ed glowered across at Scar. "Bastard!" he snarled. "You were the one!"

Cutting in front of him, Lissa rushed at Scar head-on, her right arm still ahead of her—and as she veered slightly to the right, causing him to angle to her left to line up his attack, Al leapt in and slammed into Scar with a wall of stone, knocking him clear into the next alley. _Perfect._

As they continued, the fight moving, continually moving into new areas, Lissa felt herself flagging. It was just so _exhausting_ , keeping up a battle for this long—without being able to finish it! If they'd actually been trying to capture or kill Scar here, they could've done it long ago, especially with Mustang and Hawkeye's help, but they were still waiting on Ling's damned signal that he'd caught a homunculus. Lissa felt the faintest brush of that horrible wriggling, skin-crawling sensation, so she knew the homunculi were _around_ … But that was the extent of her knowledge.

The fight finally took them to a dead end, Ed at the lead, where he was forced to attempt to climb up and out—he reached the top of the building just as Al and Lissa caught up, only to have Scar shatter the pipe he'd climbed right underneath him. Al caught him at the last second, and Lissa cushioned Ed as he leapt off, coming to stand beside her with Al on the far side of Scar, surrounding him yet again.

 _Ed's breathing too hard,_ Lissa realized, meeting Al's gaze across the Ishvalan. _He expended too much energy canceling out Scar's transmutation! Dammit! If Scar goes for him, if he sees that Ed's exhausted…_

"Scar!" Al shouted, apparently realizing the same thing. "You say you believe that alchemists have defied God—but isn't that hypocritical? You use alchemy just like we do!"

The Ishvalan gave him a sharp glare. "I explained when we met in East City," he began lowly. "It's Balance. Where there are creators, there must also be a destroyer."

"That's a lie!" Al snapped angrily. "You're just using the name of your god to justify murder! Revenge is all you care about! When you killed Shou Tucker and Nina… I suppose you believe you were doing god's work then, too!"

Lissa flinched. _Nina… That's right, this bastard killed Nina…_

Yet Scar regarded them without remorse. "Interesting," he mused. "You three saw that abomination as well, did you?"

"Abomination?!" Lissa felt sick to her stomach. "She was just a little girl!"

His cold, red-eyed gaze fixated on her then. "Alchemy created that tragic creature," he intoned lowly. "And that's the science you would spend your lives following?"

It was like a knife in the abdomen.

 _He…he's right… Alchemy did create Nina, that never would've been possible without alchemy… But… It can't all be that way, it isn't all about that!_

"Look at your brother!" Scar continued, this time fixating on Ed, his tone accusing and harsh. "He is the result of messing around with someone's life. That chimera was made because a man thought he could create, when creation is the province of god alone."

A shudder ran through Ed. "Maybe you're right," he snarled, "but why did you have to kill her?! You stole what little life she had left!"

Scar's eyes narrowed. "Foolish as you are, you must still have known that chimera could never have returned to her human state."

They had… Of course they'd known, but even so… She was still a little girl inside…

"It would have lived out its life as a laboratory specimen. Treated as a test subject, but never again as a human being."

All the air went out of her lungs at once. _A laboratory… We knew, we had to know, where else, but… But we didn't do anything… We would've let her go, knowing what would happen… Nina… She would've been taken away, and we…never once tried… Never thought…_ Her vision blurred, tears stinging her eyes.

"It's true," Ed admitted slowly. "State alchemists have made some serious mistakes." He sucked in a shaky breath and fixed a glare on Scar, his voice trembling with a flood of barely-repressed emotions. "But despite what you think… That doesn't make what you're doing right. We can't let you continue!"

Lissa blinked hard, forced her tears away. Ed was right. Even if they'd made a mistake, as _children_ , as little kids…their own mistakes didn't justify his actions.

"You're so self-righteous," Ed all but growled. "But do you remember two Amestrian doctors named Rockbell?"

She jolted, stunned he'd asked, and yet not surprised at all. He wanted answers.

That shocked Scar, to hear the name—he nearly flinched away, a visible reaction that told them all in a single moment he knew _exactly_ who Ed was talking about.

"The order came down to end the uprising and exterminate Ishval. But that didn't stop them." Ed's voice was fierce, unwavering now. "They kept right on helping _your_ people."

Al suddenly reached out and yelped, "Wait, brother!"

Lissa couldn't fathom why he wanted to stop—Ed was getting through to Scar, affecting this murderer… And buying them time to regain their strength, time for Ling and Lan Fan to handle the homunculi, for everything they needed. So why was he upset?

"Don't you remember them?!" Ed snarled, unrelenting. "Those doctors saved your life! And you _killed_ them!"

"Brother!" Al yelled, pointing sharply down the alley to his right.

Lissa followed where he indicated, baffled, only to see…

 _Winry. Oh, no, oh no, what's she doing here?!_

Winry stood only a few feet away from Scar, her eyes flooding with tears, shaking all over as she stared between them all. She'd heard. She'd heard _all_ of it. "What are you talking about, Ed?" she asked in a small voice.

Ed looked horrified. "Winry, I…" But he trailed off. What was there to say?

"Y-you mean…he's the man…who killed them?" Winry breathed. Her voice trembled awfully. "My parents…he killed them? What's worse…" Her hands, pressed against her chest, began to shiver. "What's worse…they helped _save_ you…and you killed them?"

Scar turned to her, his face impassible, as Winry crumpled to her knees before him, overcome. "Why did you… They were my mom and dad… What did they ever do to you?" Her voice broke. "They were _doctors_ … They helped people… They didn't deserve to die!" Winry sobbed then, finally losing the battle, and clutched at her own head in desperation. "Give them back," she begged. "Give me back my mom and dad, you monster!"

Lissa wrapped her arms around her abdomen. That feeling of loss, the horrible aching _hole_ left by losing your parents… There was nothing to fill the gap, nothing that could possibly mend it… And she barely even remembered her own parents, she could hardly imagine how awful it would be if she really did remember them, like Winry did…

"Winry! Hold on! You can't… Don't do this!" Ed suddenly yelled, pleading with her.

Al was staring at her in horror. "Winry!"

"Don't do it!"

It took a moment for Lissa to realize it—too long, much too long. Because suddenly Winry had a soldier's fallen pistol in her shaking hands, and was pointing it up at Scar with her finger resting on the trigger.

"Winry, don't," Lissa begged her. "You don't want to do this!" _She can't, not Winry… We're supposed to protect her from all this, not drag her into it!_

"This girl is the doctors' daughter?" Scar asked lowly. "You would have the right… Shooting me would be justified," he observed. His words hung horribly in the air, a sick, awful suggestion to make to a grieving girl. But then he continued, making it so, so much worse. "Go on, shoot."

"Don't do it, Winry!" Ed cried. "Put down the gun!"

"You know you don't want to do this!" Al implored her. "Winry!"

Yet Scar didn't let up. "Shoot, girl," he demanded. "But know, the moment you pull the trigger, there's no going back. You will be my enemy."

Al gasped. "Scar!"

"Like hell!" Lissa growled, suddenly furious. How dare he threaten her?! How _dare_ he?! After what he'd done!

"If you think I'll let you hurt one hair on her head-" Edward snarled out, his voice pitched too high, desperate.

But Scar rounded on him. "Will you kill me?" he snapped. "That'd be fine with me. Until one of us dies, boy, this chain of hatred will continue." His gaze darkened. "But don't ever forget! Don't ever forget it was the Amestrians who first pulled the trigger during the civil war! It was _your_ people!"

Ed glanced sideways at Winry, still kneeling there with the gun brandished. "Winry, don't shoot!" he begged.

"Just put that gun down and get out of here!" Al insisted, but to no avail.

"If you can't shoot, then do as the boy told you," Scar told her harshly. "You're in my way!"

He lunged, the air displacing around him—and Lissa saw, in that singular moment, the decision on Ed's face. She knew that feeling, that emotion. The feeling that drove a person to leap in front of someone else.

 _Maybe what happened between us…was just…a moment of weakness, when he was vulnerable. Maybe it really is her. And that's all right._

Lissa shot forward, the air parting around her—Ed leapt up, over Scar's attack-

 _It's okay._

She flung her arms forward and a cascade of blue energy raced from her outstretched hands. The air twisted, deconstructed, reconstructed under her guidance, wrapping around Ed and forcing him up, up out of the path of Scar's destruction. Lissa skidded to her knees at the drain, the sheer effort required to do this, to _let him go_.

The air around Ed parted, let him slip through lighter than ever. He flipped upward, grabbed Scar's arm and used that leverage to twist _over_ him-

And shoved Winry's arm down, putting himself between her and Scar's incoming attack, screaming, " _Don't shoot!_ "

Lissa sent all that displaced air between Winry and Ed, and Scar, all the resistance she could muster concentrated in that empty space, the few inches between them. She was shaking, her outstretched arm wavering midair as she strained to keep him held back, but she refused to let go.

Scar froze there, staring down at Ed in a sort of stunned horror.

Al leapt into action, kicking out, knocking Scar away from them all. The Ishvalan came back to himself with a snarl and dodged the attack, but Al was ready for him, steadfast even in the face of all this. He clapped his hands and slammed his palms to the ground, sending sharp-edged projectiles shooting up under Scar's feet. Scar jumped, evaded the attack, and deconstructed the wall behind him to create an escape.

"Ed, you idiot, what are you doing?!" Al demanded harshly. " _Both_ of you will get killed!"

Lissa staggered to her feet and forced herself to breathe, forced herself not to feel the acute pain driving a spike through her heart. Ed was still there, still pressing his back against Winry, breathing hard, his gaze unfathomable.

 _That's okay. It's better this way, isn't it?_

"Get her somewhere safe, okay?" Lissa asked of Ed, watching his eyes flick up to her. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, some kind of panic drifting into his gaze, but she couldn't bring herself to give him the chance. Instead she turned and gave Al a firm nod. "C'mon, Al. Let's give him a state alchemist to go after." She took off running after Scar then, Al right behind her, every step tearing a ragged hole in her heart. But she had to. She had no choice. This was right. Ed would look after Winry, he'd take care of her. And Lissa would keep moving.

—

Their fight took them to the nearby railyard, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Lissa had so rarely seen Alphonse fighting like this—completely all out, throwing everything he had at Scar. He was _angry_ , she realized, well and truly angry now. He almost never got angry.

Above her, Al and Scar landed on the platform below a water tower, and she shot herself up next to them with a burst of compressed air, landing next to Al in a fighting stance.

"There's nothing inside that armor." Scar narrowed his eyes at them. "You're hollow, aren't you?" He sighed roughly. "You poor boy… Alchemy trapped you in that metal prison and yet you _still_ have faith in it?"

Al brought his hands together, and slammed his right palm on the water tower—he transmuted a hole in the side, a spout, sending water gushing towards Scar.

The Ishvalan leapt down, and Lissa followed, Al right behind her, both taking up positions on opposite sides of him. They couldn't leave him an escape, couldn't let off… Ling and Lan Fan _still_ hadn't showed up, which meant they needed to keep stalling. Lissa wasn't sure if her position as _potential sacrifice_ carried enough weight for a homunculus to show up or not, but she was going to try anyway. What else could she do?

"True," Al agreed sharply. "There are plenty of things about this body that are inconvenient… But it's nothing I can't live with. I don't need pity from anyone. Least of all from you."

Scar merely stared at him impassively.

Al stood up straight and faced him down. "My brother used alchemy to save my life. To regret the form I have now would mean not only rejecting alchemy, but also turning my back on him." He squared his shoulders, refusing to back down, to show anything but conviction. "I believe in my brother, and I believe in alchemy. I will _not_ lose faith! I _want_ to believe!"

"Oh, do you?" Scar asked, almost sneering. He raised his arm, and the jet of water Al had created earlier rushed over him—over that damned right arm.

Lissa cursed as he used the water to create steam, covering his movements.

Only…not to her.

She sensed him moving, shifting behind the cover. He'd just created more particles around to show her where he was—and he was coming _right for them_! "Al, move!" she screamed, leaping forward and in front of him. With a flick of her hands, she knocked Al away, back far enough that he'd be safe—just as Scar leapt out of the mist towards her, his hand outstretched. Lissa brought her arm up, still plated in metal from before, ready to meet his attack.

But it never landed.

The air shifted beside her, and with a cry, Ed leapt in and rammed his foot solidly against Scar's bent leg, kicking him away and landing in a crouch in front of Lissa.

She stared at him in shock. _He…saved me. He put himself in front of me. But…why?_

"Brother!" Al yelped, racing back to join them. "Where's Winry?"

"She's safe. No thanks to me, though… I made her cry again." He stood straight and wiped at the blood caked down the right side of his face, seeming weary. Lissa was lost for words, overwhelmed, without a single clue what to even say to him now.

Al sighed at him. "You really should be more careful, brother. She doesn't like to see you fight like that."

"Yeah," Ed muttered dejectedly. "But she's gone now… So let's end this." He moved to stand beside Lissa, placing her between him and Al, and reached out to touch her shoulder lightly. "Liss…you okay?" he asked her quietly.

She nodded once. No, but she wasn't going to tell him that now.

It was all she could do not to sob when he pressed his hand into the small of her back for a moment, that familiar, sweet gesture. What was going on? There was what happened with Winry…up against this, him running in to save her, touching her, familiar and gentle… She couldn't fathom it and there was no time to focus on it, either.

Lissa's skin crawled.

"Homunculus," she hissed, snapping her gaze to the fat, lumbering creature leaping down off a nearby train to land behind Scar.

"Ooh, I found you!" he squeaked. "Ishvalan!" His tongue lolled out, slobber flying, and there it was—an ouroboros tattoo, right there on his tongue. So this was the one who'd attacked Riza. Gluttony, Lissa assumed. It seemed to fit.

"You again!" Scar almost gasped, jolting to face him.

"You said he's a homunculus, Lissa?" Al breathed. "Then—he's the one who attacked the Colonel's team!"

Ed gritted his teeth. "He's got to be. Where the hell are Ling and Lan Fan?!"

As the homunculus leapt, Scar dodged, slamming the enormous creature into the dirt and pressing his right hand to its back. His destructive energy flared, and blood bubbled out the homunculus's mouth—but it didn't fucking _die_.

"So even he can't kill them in one hit!" Lissa clenched her fists, trying to feel for the Xingese. But all she could sense was that damned homunculus, worse than any of the others, her whole body crawling with that wretched sensation. This one was overwhelming, far more than any other had been, not even Greed—and she'd been around him for a pretty extended period of time. What the hell _was_ this one?!

Scar went at it again, and again, but the creepy thing just kept _grinning_ at him, refusing to die. Gluttony—for Lissa assumed that was him—launched up and managed to fling Scar into the side of a train, pinning him there with his own physical mass.

When Gluttony reared back, Lissa shot forward, cutting a channel through the air, and rammed the flat of her arm into his side. The force of it sent the homunculus reeling, and the boys were on him right after, kicking him even further away. They couldn't just let him kill Scar yet. If Ling and Lan Fan weren't coming, they needed to focus on somehow pinning this homunculus first!

 _Wait… That feeling… I know that sense!_

Lissa skidded to a halt, snagging the back of Ed's jacket in time to yank him out of the way as the manhole cover beside them exploded—and Ling shot out, somersaulting midair with his blade clenched in his teeth. She'd never seen him like this. He seemed unhinged, like something in him had snapped.

 _Oh no. Where's Lan Fan?_

Ling landed atop Gluttony's shoulders with a bomb primed, which he stuffed down the creature's throat in a single motion. "Go! Move it!" he ordered, leaping back off Gluttony.

Lissa and Ed staggered away, and she smothered a yelp when he grabbed her and pushed her to the ground, covering her with his own body as the bomb exploded. They both sat up, just in time to see the lower half of Gluttony's body crash to the ground—and his severed tongue, oozing blood into the dirt, landed with a wet _slap_ right before them.

Then, right before Lissa's eyes, it disintegrated into nothing.

All around them, the severed pieces of Gluttony dissipated in the same way, even the arm sitting grotesquely in front of Al. So…severed parts of the homunculi just faded? That was important to know.

Just a few feet away, Gluttony's half-destroyed body began to rebuild, red energy crackling as it started putting itself back together. It was gruesome to see, the innards reforming, flesh crawling upwards from his torso. His bones began to regrow, seemingly from nothing, arms dropping down with a sickening crack. Lissa cringed and felt Ed's hand clench into her jacket, his face screwed up in disgust that mirrored her own.

Ling landed right beside them and snapped, "Get me some strong cable!"

Immediately, Ed leapt up. "Right! On it!" He raced to the train tracks just behind him, clapping his hands together on the way, and pressed his palms into the metal lining the edge of the tracks.

Shit. There was still more to be done. Lissa shoved to her feet, pushing off everything else, and sprinted to the far side of the homunculus, transmuting the air on the way. Ed returned moments later with his newly-transmuted cable in hand. He passed one end to Ling, then tossed the other end over to Lissa, the cable uncoiling midair.

"Ling, go!" she shouted, snatching the cable up and following the Xingese prince in. He leapt up and began winding the cable around the homunculus's still-forming body, twisting it around him as tightly as he could.

"Your own regenerative ability is working against you!" he hissed as he worked. "Your flesh won't stop expanding! It'll keep you tied up nice and tight!" Lissa followed his movements, tracing the faintest disturbances in the air to keep herself behind Ling at all times as she fed the cable up to him. She finally threw the end up to him and stepped back as he tied it securely.

"You're mine now, homunculus!" Ling snarled, triumphant.

Lissa sank back in relief. They'd…actually done it! They'd captured a homunculus!

Tyres squealed nearby, and gunshots rang out—Scar, who had been standing there forgotten until now, grunted in sudden pain as one of those bullets slammed into the side of his leg and sank to his knees. A car drifted in sideways, driven by a familiar blonde woman with glasses framing her face.

Lissa could only stare at her in shock. _Riza!_

"Put him in," Riza demanded sharply. "We're getting out of here."

With a gargantuan effort, born only from adrenaline and rage, Ling hefted Gluttony's entire form and dumped him into the car, climbing in after and crouching there, holding onto the seat.

Ed looked between Scar and Riza, seeming totally overwhelmed. "Hold on a sec, Lieu-"

Lissa shot her arm out and caught him in the stomach, cutting him off and earning a baffled look in return. But Riza brought a finger to her lips, and Ed finally caught on—she was in _disguise_ , of course he shouldn't go around calling her _Lieutenant Hawkeye_!

"Wait!" Al yelped, not quite there yet. "What's going on-"

Ed shook his head firmly. "Al, stop!" he interrupted. "The MPs are watching. Just pretend we don't know her," he murmured, tapping the side of his brother's armor.

Lissa swallowed hard as soldiers flooded the area, making their confusion known. Ed was right to say so—but she couldn't help but worry about Riza, about Ling… And about Lan Fan, who had never shown back up. Where was the Xingese girl? Why had Ling been so battered when he arrived? And where the hell was his coat?

"The Colonel may be a creep and a jerk," Ed muttered under his breath, "but at least we can trust him. Besides, we have something to do."

"Ed, wait-" Lissa tried, uselessly, as he took off running towards Scar. Ed rammed his automail fist into Scar's face, launching an attack with a definite advantage this time—after all, Scar was injured now, and he'd been beaten down by that homunculus too.

But even with all that, Scar was still a formidable enemy. Ed retreated quickly back to the edge of the tracks as Scar sent transmutation energy ripping through the ground, clearly not finished yet.

"Al, Lissa! We have to get him!" Ed called.

Lissa nodded sharply. "Right!"

To either side of her, the boys brought their hands together, preparing.

"You killed the Rockbells and Nina, among many others," Ed snarled.

"You're going to answer for your crimes!" Al told the Ishvalan fiercely.

Something rammed into Al, knocking him down flat. Lissa caught a glimpse of pink, felt that same pestering _familiar_ feeling she got from all the Xingese—but she didn't even have time to fully register it before she felt something knock into her as well, sending her crashing into the ground. Beside her, Ed suffered the same fate in the form of feet landing directly on his face.

A tiny girl leapt over them and landed beside Scar, taking up a fighting stance, and beside her was…

Was that a tiny _panda_?!

"Are these three giving you trouble, servant?" the girl asked imperiously. She pointed an accusatory finger at the three alchemists. "This is the servant of the man who saved my life! You better leave him alone, puny little boy!"

Ed shoved to his feet and raged at her, "Wait a sec! Who are _you_ calling puny?!"

He…did have a point, though. Lissa thought this weird little girl wouldn't even come up to her chest. She was tiny, and young, and…probably confused, if she was working with Scar. She was almost feeling _sorry_ for the little thing when this tiny girl yanked out two handfuls of kunai and brandished them, and all that pity evaporated in an instant.

Lissa jolted as the girl threw her kunai, not at any of them but at two separate train cars, where they stuck firmly in place. Then the girl deftly traced a circle in the dirt with the toe of her shoe, dropped five more kunai to the points of a star she drew in the middle of the circle—and pressed her hand to it.

Blue transmutation energy crackled up from her circle, and twin explosions sounded behind them. Suddenly the area was engulfed in thick, black smog, choking everyone's lungs and efficiently covering their escape, too.

Growling low in her throat, Lissa twisted her hands midair and summoned those foreign coal particles, separating the elements and dragging them together, the black cloud sparkling blue as she worked her abilities, struggling with the sheer size of the area. She was used to doing this in smaller, compact areas, rather than out in the open.

"What kind of alchemy was that?" Ed coughed, tucking his face into the crook of his elbow.

"She did it from that far away?" Al wondered. He alone was unaffected by inhaling the foreign particles, a small blessing, though his vision would be obscured too.

Ed let out a yell of frustration. "Shit, I can't see! Scar!"

Lissa yanked harder at her energy, scarcely able to breathe at all with everything she was dragging towards herself—but finally she was able to bring all the smoke together, coalescing it into a single, hard lump that she let fall from her hand. As soon as it fell, her knees wavered, and she realized she might have overdone it just a bit.

But then Edward was there, ducking under her arm to drape it over his shoulders and sliding his own arm around her waist, holding her tight to him. "I've got you, Liss," he told her softly. "Just hold onto me, okay?"

 _Why? Why are you acting like this? It seemed like… That you…_

Dimly, Lissa heard Ed reassuring Al that she'd be all right, felt him guiding her away… She was too overwhelmed to do anything but follow, trusting him to look after her. Once her breathing stabilized, she looked up to realize they were mostly alone, around the side of a train car, in their own little bubble for a moment. Keeping what had happened earlier in mind, she went to pull away, to create space, distance, trying to be respectful…

But Ed just pulled her into him and kissed her so sweetly, right there where anybody could see them, catch them, but…but he didn't seem to care. He stroked his gloved thumb down her cheek gently as he pulled back, his gaze soft and steady. "Are you okay?"

"I…" Lissa bowed her head. "I'm confused, Ed," she admitted.

His eyebrows furrowed. "About what?"

"About… _us_ , this, whatever's going on here. Earlier I thought… With Winry…" She looked away from him, feeling horribly uncomfortable. "Some part of me just wondered…after what happened-"

"Ed, Lissa…they brought a car for us," Al told them, rounding the end of the train car and stopping in his tracks when he saw them. "Er… Is everything okay?" he asked worriedly. It wasn't a compromising position, at least, but it wasn't exactly _innocent_ either.

Lissa expected Ed to yank away, but instead he nodded and pulled her into his side even tighter. "Yeah. Everything's fine, Al. Let's go."

He led her away, trailing a couple steps behind his brother, and Lissa didn't think she'd ever _been_ more confused. What was this? Why wasn't he upset about her questions, her worries? Whichever way it fell, whether she was reading too much into it or not, Ed had every right to be put off by what she'd asked. Or, rather, nearly asked. But instead he was just…holding onto her like nothing had ever happened. Had he misunderstood?

"I know you're feeling uncertain," he told her softly, so quietly she could barely make out his words. "And I understand why. But I promise you, Liss… It isn't like that." Ed tightened his arm around her waist. "We can talk later, okay? I just…don't want to be at odds."

"Okay," she agreed softly. Lissa was still confused…but he was _here_ , with her, and she was going to appreciate that for as long as she could.

—

"We're keeping her."

"Like hell we are!"

"But she's _cute_."

"It is not cute! It's a tiny demon spawn with razor sharp teeth!"

Lissa crossed her arms and scowled at Ed. "You're just jealous because she's cuter than you."

"I am _not_!" he hissed back. "And it's definitely not cuter than me!"

She smirked. "Jealous."

"No!"

Lissa beamed up at Al, who was still holding the tiny creature aloft—the tiniest panda bear Lissa had _ever_ seen in her life. The little thing was angry, it seemed, but she had accepted Al and stopped trying to bite Lissa's fingers off every time she petted the little panda, which clearly meant they were winning her over. Alphonse had picked the panda up back at the railyard and kept her stuffed in his armor all through picking Winry up, only now bringing the panda back out once they'd reached the hotel lobby. Across the lobby, Winry was on the phone with Mr. Garfiel, still a bit unsteady but doing better.

In fact, Lissa was rather hoping the sight of Al's enormous armored self holding an itty-bitty panda would help cheer her friend up. They'd finally told her everything, she and Ed had, about Winry's parents and what they'd learned in Xerxes about the events surrounding their deaths. It was hard, heart-wrenchingly difficult to explain it all, but Winry deserved the truth.

"It's okay, Al," she reassured the younger boy kindly. "We'll keep her. Don't listen to Ed."

Ed crossed his arms irritably. "No, we are not keeping it! Where the hell are we gonna put a _pet_ anyway, huh?"

Al giggled and rubbed a finger on the panda's head. "In my armor?"

"And when we're fighting?"

"Um…" Al shifted on his feet. "In the hotel?"

"What if it _pees_ on everything? Specifically my clothes!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Winry asked, crossing to them with a baffled look on her face. "I'm so lost."

Al held up the panda helpfully. "Brother doesn't want us to keep her."

Winry's eyes lit up as she saw the tiny creature. "Aw, Ed, really? That's so heartless, you can't just toss the poor little cat out on the street!"

Ed wrinkled his nose in distaste, muttering, "It _bites_ , Winry."

"And I'm sure that's because you were being mean to her," Winry cooed, reaching out and petting the panda's head. Lissa was pleased to see the panda didn't bite her, either. "See? She's harmless."

Lissa patted Ed's shoulder comfortingly. "It'll be easier if you just give in," she counseled him.

Winry sighed and pulled her arm back, crossing it over her abdomen instead. "Um… So…" She averted her gaze. "I'm going back to Rush Valley tonight."

"So soon?" Ed asked, sounding worried.

But she just nodded firmly. "Yes. They need me there… And it's not going to do me any good to sit around doing nothing." Winry grimaced a bit. "I shouldn't have unpacked earlier… Now I have to pack all over again."

"I'll help, if you'd like," Lissa offered with a smile. "I just need to look after this dummy first." She poked Ed's arm, making him swat at her—but it got a little giggle out of Winry.

"Sure, Lissa. That sounds great. I'll just be in my room, okay?" Winry headed upstairs then, with another little head pat for the panda.

Ed gave her a dry look. "What do you mean, look after me?"

She pointed at his head helpfully. "You're injured. That one little bandage isn't enough, I know you reopened your old cut from Laboratory Five." Even though he sighed about it, Lissa managed to take him by the hand and lead him upstairs, to their hotel room, with Al trailing behind totally absorbed in his new pet. She knew, realistically, they couldn't keep the little thing…but it was nice to pretend for a bit. Besides, she enjoyed poking fun at Ed too much to stop.

With Al across the room, entertained by the panda chewing on his fingers and various bits of his armor, Lissa settled Ed on the sofa and pulled out her first aid supplies, arranging them on the table and kneeling in front of him. "Here, take your hair down, okay? It'll be more comfortable if it's not braided for a bit."

He did so immediately, not questioning her, setting his hair tie on the table among all her supplies and tugging his fingers through his own hair. Lissa snagged the hair tie and stuck it on her own wrist so it wouldn't get lost, a sort of reflexive gesture as she picked up a cotton ball and doused it in antiseptic. He wouldn't do this on his own, she knew. Ed would've just left the half-assed bandage some MP gave him before they left the railyard.

Staying as focused as she could on her task, Lissa rose up on her knees and gently peeled the old bandage off, watching him shift a bit in discomfort. Then she dabbed the cotton ball on his wound, making him hiss and wince at the sting—but he didn't jerk away from her. That was important, somehow.

"I want to ask you not to doubt me," Ed murmured, his golden eyes fixed on her face, "but…I understand. I'd have to be an idiot not to get why you wondered about that today."

She shook her head faintly. "I trust you. If you say it's not like that, then I believe you."

"Yeah, but Liss… That doesn't make it go away," he pointed out softly. "I won't just pretend it didn't happen. You're afraid I have feelings for Winry. And I know you just said you believe me, but you still look hurt… I can't just act like I don't see that."

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "It's not my place to get involved in that."

"Lissa." Ed touched her cheek gently, and she paused with the cotton ball halfway to his face, caught by his eyes staring right into her soul. "Winry's my oldest friend. We grew up together. And yeah, I care about her, a lot, but… It's different. It always has been." The pad of his thumb was rough, she noticed, calloused from years of training and fighting… Yet his touch was so very gentle… "This doesn't change anything, okay? Not a damn thing."

She bowed her head for a moment, trying so desperately to believe it without feeling like she was…coming between something. "Okay," Lissa acknowledged softly, after a moment. "I—I'm sorry I got like this, it's so…selfish and-"

Ed smiled and caught her free hand in his. "Nah. I get it. I'd be the same way."

Lissa felt her cheeks warming. He was just so—so—so _much_ sometimes. How could he possibly be _this_ sweet and understanding, not angry with her over her stupid reactions…

Though…

She finished cleaning his forehead and picked up her roll of gauze, forced to stand to be at the right position to wind it around his head. Today had been…so trying, and maybe… Maybe he just wanted things to be all right, somehow, in one tiny part of their lives. They wanted so badly for this thing between them to be _easy_ , and maybe this was his way of ensuring that. Because at the end of all the hell they'd gone through, the close calls and stress and just insanity they'd endured that day…it meant so much to be able to go back to this, to the understanding they had between them.

 _Easy. All right, Edward Elric. It really will be easy, then._

Lissa tied off the bandages and finished with a kiss atop his head. "There. You're all set. Now I'm gonna go help Winry, okay? You two try not to get into too much trouble while I'm gone, please."

Al bobbed his head. "We won't!"

Yet at the same time, Ed smirked and told her, "No promises."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sounds about right." Sighing, Lissa cleared away her first aid supplies and left the boys there, hoping they really wouldn't cause any chaos in her absence—unlikely, but a girl could dream—and went next door to knock on Winry's door instead.

"Come in!"

Lissa stepped inside and shut the door behind her, finding a flurry of chaotic packing, half clothes and half tools, with little sign of organization. "Er…looks like a tornado went through here," she teased lightly.

Winry grinned up at her sheepishly from the center of the mess. "Sorry. I know it's kind of crazy."

"Nah, Ed's much worse when he tries to pack," Lissa reassured her, smirking. "I've just kind of given up on him, even if he has hours and hours to handle it he'll make a total mess of it. This isn't bad at all." She dove in immediately, sitting down beside Winry and beginning to fold the bundle of shirts she discovered nearby. "So…how are you holding up?"

The blonde shrugged faintly. "As well as I can be, I guess. I don't think it completely feels real yet, but…" She rested her hands on her knees for a moment. "I don't want to just sit here and be useless. You and Ed and Al… You're out risking your lives like that every day. I've got to do _something_."

Lissa set the shirt she'd folded into Winry's open suitcase and frowned at her slightly. "You've done plenty, Win. You made Ed's arm and leg. That's _huge_."

"I know, but…" Her hands clenched into fists atop her legs. "I can't do what you all do. I'm not a fighter, I'm just a liability out there, and I know that… So all I can do is fight through this so I can help the next time you guys need me. That's what my parents did. They fought however they could, even if it wasn't by picking up a weapon. I want to be like them."

"From what I've heard…you already are a lot like them," Lissa told her quietly.

That made Winry smile. "I really hope so." She returned to packing for a moment—before something occurred to her and she paused again, looking at Lissa curiously. "Hey, Lissa… What keeps you going? If that's okay to ask, I mean. I just wonder…what drives you to keep fighting like that? I hadn't seen you fight until today… And it's like the boys, you have this…inner drive when you're out there. I wondered what's pushing you on."

She blinked, surprised at the question. "Well… I guess a lot of it is because I want to help Ed and Al get their bodies back," Lissa began slowly. "And the rest… Honestly, sometimes I don't know. I've been so…angry most of my life… My parents were…well…" She looked up at Winry, stunned to realize she'd never actually told this story. "That's weird…"

"Huh? What's weird?" Winry raised an eyebrow, confused.

"I never told you…" Lissa leaned back on her hands and cast her gaze to the ceiling. "My parents were killed during the Ishvalan Civil War too. The difference is, something happened to me at the same time and I lost most of my memories from when I was a kid… I remember some of it, just little bits here and there, but the doctors at Central figured I suffered some kind of shock and it caused me to smother whatever happened. So most times I just…have this sense of…of loss, you know? And it made me so… _angry_. I wasn't given much of a choice in becoming a state alchemist, because when the military found me in my hometown I used alchemy against them, and they decided I was too dangerous to just…go to a normal home."

Winry frowned, leaning forward towards her. "That hardly seems fair," she complained. "Forcing a little kid who just lost her parents to go into some military institution…" She looked so very troubled. "I had no idea you'd lost your parents too. I mean… I knew they weren't around, but…"

"It's different for me," she hurried to say, feeling a bit uncomfortable getting Winry of all people to _pity_ her. "I don't have a lot of memories of them so it's more just—the absence that bugs me than anything else. Anyway, the thing is… It used to make me so angry, all the time. I only wanted to take my state alchemy exams just to get out of the institution, and that was it. I didn't have anything else I wanted. But then…"

A faint smile came over the blonde's lips. "You met the boys, in Resembool. Right?"

"Right," Lissa agreed softly. "And since then…that's been my drive. I want to see them whole again. So I guess…I don't really know what else is pushing me, right now. All I want is to look after Ed and Al. They're my family now." She stared down at her lap, anxious and embarrassed. "You are too."

"Aw, Lissa…" Winry beamed and threw her arms around her, hugging Lissa so tightly. "I feel like that too, you know? Really, I'm so glad I met you. It's nice to have somebody around who—gets it, who knows how all of this feels."

In better spirits, they finished up packing Winry's things, condensing everything into a single suitcase—which Lissa thought was impressive, really—and she was just about to suggest they head to the station when Winry sort of…gave her this _look_ , and Lissa froze, baffled. "You…look sort of like you're going to interrogate me," she edged. "Is something wrong?"

Winry folded her arms over her chest. "What's going on between you and Ed? And _don't_ try to head me off this time, Lissa. I've seen the way he looks at you."

 _Oh, shit._

"I…honestly…" Lissa spun away, her cheeks burning. "I don't know?"

"Oh, come on."

"I mean it," she mumbled. "It's just…sort of…whatever it is right now. We didn't exactly quantify it." Lissa groaned and rubbed her hands over her face. "And now I feel like _everyone_ knows except poor Al, we were gonna talk to him first… Shit…"

Winry laughed and tapped her shoulder, getting her to turn around. "Knowing Al, he probably picked up on it before you two did. But…" She frowned a bit. "Are you…happy? Is Ed happy?"

Was he? Lissa thought about that seriously, recalling his sweet smile as she left the hotel room, the way he constantly wanted to be holding her hand, wrapping his arms around her, keeping her close… The lightness in his tone when they'd declared it was going to be _easy_ … "I think so," she whispered, after a moment. "I hope he is. And me… I just wanna look after him."

"So is it just sort of…" Winry waved her hand flippantly. "Up in the air or… Did he…"

Lissa wrinkled her nose. "I feel bad talking about this tonight."

"Please. I never get any good gossip down in Rush Valley." She grinned. "You're…blushing, Lissa. Did he—oh my gosh. _Please_ tell me Edward grew a spine and did something about this."

She swallowed hard, feeling her cheeks absolutely simmering with heat—but…well, if Winry already _knew_ , and she was brightening just talking about it… Lissa hadn't gotten to tell _anyone_ or show anyone, and it was burning right at the edge of her lips… "He…well…may have, um… Kissed me. A few times."

Winry giggled and clapped her hands together excitedly. "I knew it! I _knew_ it weeks ago! Hah! Who knew little Ed Elric was brave enough, huh?"

Lissa covered her face, absolutely mortified by it. "Winry, _stop_ …"

"Nuh-uh. C'mon, I'm happy for you. If I was gonna have _anybody_ get near those boys, I'm glad it's you, Lissa. At least I know you care about them and you're looking after them." Winry folded her arms imperiously. "It's not like I didn't see this coming, you know."

"I know, I know, but…" Lissa peeked between her fingers, shifting uncomfortably on her feet. "I wondered…if maybe you and…and Ed…"

Winry wrinkled her nose. "Tch. Ed's like my annoying little brother. Don't get me wrong, I love him and Al, they're my oldest friends, but—it's nothing like that, I promise. It might feel kinda weird, being romantic with them at this point." She smiled then, sweetly, and reached out to squeeze Lissa's shoulder. "I am glad you were honest with me, though. Thank you."

It really wasn't _fair_ , how kind Winry was.

"It's the least I can do," Lissa mumbled, shrugging.

Winry picked up her suitcase and hitched her repair case up on her shoulder, summoning up a brave sort of smile. "Well, I should probably head out. But you'll call, won't you? And keep me updated on everything?"

Lissa inclined her head. "Whenever I can."

"Good." Winry stuck out her arm, a sort of invitation, and Lissa took her up on it immediately. "Shall we?"

"Yeah. Let's go round up the boys."

* * *

(Drama queen Lissa, hah! Also, there's enough drama here without a love triangle. So none of that.)


	30. The Unthinkable

First off, thank you to everyone who answered my question last time! It was really helpful, and honestly really flattering that you all are cool with such a wildly long chapter. So it'll be staying long, just like I wrote it. It isn't this one, though it is coming up! I'm also really really glad people enjoyed the way I'm expanding on Lissa's relationships with everyone else, because that has been a big deal to me as I've planned this. I didn't want a character like Al, for example, to get pushed to the wayside just because the romance picked up. His relationship with Lissa is going to stay important, consciously, so I'm relieved that it's going over well. So anyway! This is where things start to really pick up, as we know... I've had some of this planned out, dialogue and all, since the very beginning. Fingers crossed you like it. As always, please let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Lissa, Al, and Ed saw Winry off at Central Station—it was a bit of an emotional farewell, compounded by the fact that they had some rough things to face once she was gone. But it was good she was going back to Rush Valley. She'd be safe there, Lissa knew, or at least safer than here in Central where the world seemed to be coming apart at the seams.

"I didn't know you owned a second hair tie," Lissa teased to avoid talking about the heavier things, giving a tug to Ed's ponytail as they exited the station.

He grinned. "I'm smart enough to have more than one, y'know."

But Al snorted at him. "You had to transmute one."

"Hey!"

Lissa smirked and patted Al's arm. "I knew it! See, at least _someone's_ honest with me. I could've just given you this one." She tugged at his red hair tie, still looped around her wrist.

He waved her off. "Nah, you keep that one. In case I need it."

They headed down the steps, the sun already set behind the horizon. All around, lights were coming on as the sky darkened, night approaching. It had been a long day, Lissa reflected, but it wasn't over yet.

No, indeed—a fact evidenced as a car pulled up to the curb, just as they reached the bottom of the steps, driven by none other than Colonel Mustang.

Ed looked at him in confusion. "Colonel?"

Mustang jerked his head. "Get in the car, you three. Quickly."

They all piled in without any questions—there was no doubt what this was regarding, after all. Lissa managed to fit herself facing backwards in the backseat, opposite the boys, with her legs tucked underneath her. Really, Mustang could've grabbed a bigger car, considering that poor Al only barely fit inside, and that was with his head ducked down…

Mustang drove them to a sort of suburban neighborhood and got out, leaving the car idling while he waited by a gate across the street. Lissa nudged Ed's knee with the back of her hand as someone approached—none other than Dr. Knox, the same one who had handled the autopsy of the fake Maria Ross shell. So he was an ally for sure, and apparently Mustang needed his help for something, though she didn't know what.

"Why would he go out of his way to drag Dr. Knox into all this?" Ed wondered aloud, watching Mustang and Knox's conversation with narrowed eyes.

Lissa shrugged faintly. "I'm not sure. Maybe someone's injured… But who?"

Al gasped. "Lan Fan! She never showed up, did she? What if she got hurt or something?"

Despite herself, Lissa felt a pang of worry for the Xingese girl. "That's true," she admitted softly. "I hope she's okay…"

After a brief discussion, Mustang managed to convince Dr. Knox to join them, and from there drove all the way out of Central. Lissa sat with her hand absently resting on Ed's knee the whole way, just watching out the window as night fell and they passed into farmland, up a hill overlooking the city. Central, glowing in the darkness like this, was almost… _pretty_ , somehow.

Mustang finally stopped outside a ramshackle old building, a rundown kind of place with a few lights on inside. It looked…sketchy, really. Lissa wouldn't have wanted to be here alone.

"So, what is this place?" Edward asked curiously, once they were all out of the car. "Some kinda safehouse?"

"Exactly that," Mustang confirmed. "It was the best place to hide that homunculus."

He led the way inside, holding a lantern to guide the way, and once there immediately directed Dr. Knox to a back room. Lissa followed quicker than the boys, while Mustang handled something near the front—and when she walked through the next doorway, she jumped in surprise, forcing back a startled squeak. Ling was just…sitting there in the darkness, gaze fixated on the floor, unmoving. If she hadn't sensed his breathing, she might think he was a statue.

"Ling?" she murmured, frowning at him. "Are you okay?" She'd never seen the Xingese prince like this. Something was…so very wrong.

A yell came from the back room: "The hell happened to her?!"

Lissa sucked in a sharp breath. The boys came up behind her—she could hear the clanks from Al's armor, and knew the feel of both of them by now—but neither spoke. They were just as worried as she was. "Ling." Lissa knelt in front of him, touching her hands to his knees lightly. He looked at her, his jaw clenched, eyes tight with agony. "It's Lan Fan, isn't it? She got hurt today."

He nodded, just once.

Dr. Knox railed about something again—this time something about the sewers, which explained a little more of the situation. No doubt that was how Lan Fan escaped the chaos without detection, even in her injured state.

Moments later, a horrible, heart-wrenching scream ripped through the air.

Lissa bowed her head, suddenly overcome by the leaden weight of sulfur on her shoulders, the heavy press of rain at the top of her spine… She sank sideways, curling her arms around her abdomen as the sense of it overwhelmed her.

"You feel it too, don't you?" It was hardly a question. Ling's voice was low, rough with pain, and Lissa didn't think she had the heart to lie to him. "The Dragon's Pulse. I know you sense it."

"Ling, wait-"

But Lissa held up a hand, staying Ed's defense. "Yes," she admitted quietly. She smothered just enough of the feeling to lift her head and meet the prince's gaze, sharing the pain for a moment. "I feel it. Sulfuric suffering and heaviness. I wish I could tell you why." Her throat burned with unshed tears. "She doesn't deserve this."

A hand touched her shoulder, and Lissa allowed Ed to pull her to her feet, to wrap his arm around her and keep her close. But she didn't close out all of what she felt from Lan Fan—bearing that was the least she could do.

"I'm sorry," Ed murmured.

But Ling shook his head. "No. Don't apologize." He looked up at them. "I'm the one who suggested it, remember? We both had something to gain out of it, so it made sense…" He drew his knees to his chest, for a moment looking every bit the fifteen-year-old he really was, hurting and lost. "When I went in search of immortality, I knew I must be ready to make certain sacrifices."

Ed's fingers tightened on Lissa's hip, and she leaned into him. The sulfur in the air burned her heart, but she refused to shut it away.

"But I…" Ling clenched a fist tightly. "I wasn't ready for this." His eyebrows furrowed in pain and misery. "Lan Fan was, though. She made the decision that I was too weak to make." He flinched as Lan Fan screamed again, her voice raw and muffled. They were probably having her bite down on something.

Lissa pulled away from Ed with a sudden conviction. "I'm going to help," she told them all.

Al touched her arm lightly as she went to walk past him. "Are you sure?" he asked softly. "You need to be careful too…"

She cast a glance back at Ling's form, still curled up, his shoulders trembling faintly. "Yeah, Al. I'm sure. I'll be okay." Lissa squared her shoulders and rounded the corner, stepping into the room and gritting her teeth. Riza stood over the bed, holding Lan Fan down by her remaining shoulder, while Dr. Knox worked on sterilizing and closing the wound…where the Xingese girl's left arm should be.

"Lissa, you should wait outside," Riza told her firmly.

But Lissa shook her head. "I came to help," she explained quietly.

Dr. Knox scoffed. "We don't need an alchemist, kid. There's nothin' you can do. Go look after your friends, you'll be more help out there."

She set her jaw. "What about oxygen?" she asked. "I can alter the oxygen content around her. I can alter the temperature of the air, the density…" Lissa stared down at Lan Fan, sobbing through a cloth in pure agony. "I can pull the traces of nitrous oxide from around us, too. That's an anesthetic, right? Wouldn't that help?"

He glanced up at her, scowling, seeming perturbed by her insistence… But then he shrugged and nodded. "Give it a go, if you're so determined. Not too much, though."

Lissa nodded and stepped up, taking a seat beside Riza and closing one hand around Lan Fan's. "I need you to focus on me," she asked softly, though she knew how difficult that would be. "Just keep breathing, in and out your nose… And if you get too dizzy, let go of my hand, okay?" She felt a squeeze—a confirmation—and that was enough. Lissa raised her right hand, feeling out the particles in the air. It was lucky Central was nearby…the pollution reached out enough to leave traces in the air even here, things she could use.

Unwilling to risk anyone else's safety, Lissa drew from the open window on the far side of the room, the air sparkling like starlight as she pieced out separate molecules, drawing together oxygen and nitrous oxide and concentrating it, affecting the composition of the air right around Lan Fan's head. In seconds, the girl's breathing had eased, her straining against Riza became less frequent, and her screams quieted to whimpers, gasps of pain.

"Not bad," Dr. Knox muttered. "'M not used to alchemy doing anything but destroying. How long can you keep that up, though?"

Lissa gritted her teeth. "As long as I need to."

It took half an hour for Dr. Knox to finish—half an hour of solid, continuous work. But Lissa absolutely refused to concede. Lan Fan had lost her fucking _arm_ in the name of this mission… She could handle holding her transmutation until her body gave out, after what that girl did. Finally, though, Dr. Knox bandaged Lan Fan's arm and told Lissa to let up. Within moments, Lan Fan had sunk into a heavy, exhausted sleep.

"She won't be out long," Knox explained, shaking his head and sitting back. "The pain will wake her soon enough. But I've done all I can for now. The rest is just up to her body."

Lissa took the folded-up damp cloth he passed her and carefully lay it on Lan Fan's forehead, staring down at the Xingese girl thoughtfully. Before tonight, she wouldn't have said she cared much for her… But now all she could think of was the night of her state alchemy exam, how Lan Fan had followed her back to the hotel, kept pace with her the whole way… Why? Why had she done that when she needed to be looking for Ling then? _No one should suffer alone_ , she'd said. Was that it? Lissa hadn't even considered what had happened then, but now…

 _I'm an ass,_ she realized. _I should've opened up about the things I can sense immediately. What if I do have Xingese ancestry? They could practically be my countrymen and I was an ass to them. I'll have to make up for it._

Sighing, Lissa got up from the bed and stretched her back, feeling her joints pop at the motion. It was childish to dislike these people for no substantial reason. She'd fix that.

"That was a very kind thing of you to do," Riza observed softly. "I didn't know you had that ability."

Lissa gave her a little shrug. "I didn't either, not like that. I was just winging it because I wanted to help, that's all." She dipped her head towards the Xingese girl. "Lan Fan lost her arm helping us today, on a task we all set ourselves. It was the least I could do for her."

Riza set a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, just once. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on things. You can tell the others we're finished."

Though some part of her wanted to stay right there, Lissa nodded and stepped out anyway, finding the boys still seated in the hall with Ling. Ed and Al had sat down opposite the prince, both seeming drawn and anxious, but offering silent comfort all the same. All three looked up at her as she approached.

"How is she?" Ling asked quickly, his voice terse and anxious.

"Resting, for the moment. She should be all right." She leaned into the wall and sighed wearily, exhaustion clinging to her like a cloak.

The Xingese prince's eyes followed her movements. "You helped her, didn't you?" he murmured. "I could hear the change in her voice. Can I ask…what you did? I'm afraid alchemy is still a bit foreign to me."

Lissa nodded. There was no harm in it. "I altered the oxygen density around her, to up her oxygen intake—and I gathered what ambient nitrous oxide I could feel out and concentrated that as well. It's an anesthetic, so…I thought it might make this a little easier on her." It didn't sound like much, when she voiced it, but the look in his eyes told her it meant a lot.

"Thank you," Ling told her honestly. "You had no reason to do that."

She bit her lip. "You and Lan Fan risked your lives helping us today. It's the least I could do." Lissa averted her gaze from Ling's face, uncomfortable with the level of gratitude she saw there for something which just felt like…like _nothing_ —only to see Edward looking right at her, golden eyes soft and warm as he stared up at her with so much open affection, so much gentleness… It took her breath away.

Riza stuck her head around the corner. "You can come in now," she announced. "Dr. Knox thinks she'll wake up soon."

The boys immediately got up to go in, but Lissa noted that Ling didn't move. "You coming?" she asked him softly. "I bet she'll want to see you."

He nodded slowly. "In a minute. You three go on."

Lissa wasn't sure about that, but she let Ed press his hand against her back and guide her in all the same. Maybe Ling just needed a moment alone with his thoughts, to gather himself before he faced Lan Fan. She could understand that.

To her surprise, moments after she and the boys stepped to Lan Fan's bedside, Mustang came in as well, standing at the foot of the bed beside Riza. Well…he would be concerned too, she supposed.

"Hey." Ed leaned into her side, his arm coming around her back to pull her into him. Sometimes his comfort with physical contact astonished her, it really did, the easy way he would just bring them together like that. "You holding up okay? You must be exhausted…"

She smiled at him. "I'm okay, Ed. It's nothing I can't handle."

He tipped his head in slightly closer, lowering his voice so only she could hear it, though she felt Al probably could too… "I'm proud of you, Liss. I really am."

Lissa bowed her head and didn't say anything.

"Oh! She's awake!" Al gasped, leaning in.

Ed released Lissa and leaned in as well, smiling kindly down at Lan Fan. "You okay?" he asked her gently. "Is there anything we can do?"

The Xingese girl peered up at him wearily. "That old trap of yours…worked pretty well," she murmured, her voice a bit frail.

Of course—the time Ed used his arm as bait in Rush Valley, to trick Lan Fan. But…did that mean she'd used her own _arm_ as bait earlier? Lissa paled. That was gruesome, if ingenious. What a fucking brave girl.

"But…" Her face crumpled. "I'm useless without my arm. I'm going to need to find a replacement."

Ed clenched his own automail fist thoughtfully. "You know," he began encouragingly, "I can introduce you to a great engineer. She'll take good care of you."

Lan Fan's eyes welled with tears.

Lissa smiled and touched her shoulder gently, knowing this had to be _so_ overwhelming. "You just get some rest, okay?" she murmured. "We'll all be around if you need anything, but you need to focus on healing first."

"Thank you," the Xingese girl whispered. "For helping me earlier."

"No, thank _you_ for risking so much to help us earlier. We owe you, not the other way around," she insisted firmly.

Dr. Knox shuffled them all out—though Mustang and Riza had left before, unnoticed—and they headed back towards the front of the house. Lissa tuned into the writhing sensation she'd been smothering as they rounded the corner, finding Ling and Mustang talking just outside a darkened room. So that's where they'd put Gluttony, then.

"Hey, what do we have here?" Knox wondered as they approached.

Lissa cringed when she saw him—the homunculus was still bound by the steel cables Ed had transmuted earlier, rolling back and forth slightly on the floor in the empty room. It was…gruesome.

"That's Gluttony," Ling explained shortly. "He's a homunculus."

Mustang nodded grimly. "He and his friends appear to have connections among some of the military's senior staff."

Ling rounded on him suddenly, gaze fierce. "Just _some_ , you say?" he scoffed. "It goes far deeper than that. Your Führer King Bradley… I believe it's possible that he's a homunculus too."

While Mustang and Knox reeled, Lissa felt Al's heavy gauntlet hand rest on her shoulder. The boys knew her concerns—she herself had posited something similar back in Dublith, after truly sensing Bradley for the first time, down in the tunnels. He'd been the one to defend her theory, when Ed fought back against it initially. Al had seen…something, down there. Something darker in the Führer. After all, the Führer killed that chimera girl _inside_ him. That would've seriously altered his views on their country's leader.

"I saw his eye," Ling continued, gesturing at his own face. "The one under the patch. It had an ouroboros tattoo, just like this one. He and Gluttony came after us, and they were working together!"

Ed let out a harsh breath. "Dammit," he hissed. "Führer Bradley?"

"The leader of our own country," Al breathed, shaking his head. "That's…awful."

Ling's expression turned thoughtful. "Although… Bradley doesn't have exactly the same sort of inhuman presence that you get from Gluttony. At his core, he still feels like a regular person."

"Another thing… If the Führer really is a homunculus, what about his son? Shouldn't that be impossible? We read in a book that the homunculi have no reproductive capabilities," Al pointed out, though he sounded troubled.

But Dr. Knox spoke up in a heavy voice. "No. The Führer's son, Selim, is adopted. There's no direct blood relation between him and his father."

"I sensed it from him too," Lissa whispered. She'd never told Mustang about her extra ability—and the look of bewilderment on his face showed he had no idea about it whatsoever—but she knew the time for keeping secrets was long gone. "I… I've been able to sense certain things ever since I can remember, or at least, since I came to Central, which is when my memories start, mostly. I only recently suspected that it might be the same as what you sense, Ling. When I sensed Führer Bradley in Dublith, the one time I've really had my senses open around him… He felt…similar to the other homunculi. Not identical, but on the same wavelength. I don't know what other explanation there is for that."

Ling nodded, giving her a sort of contemplative look. "It doesn't seem to be an identical ability…but if you sensed something strange from him as well…"

"Lan Fan described what the homunculi feel like to you, remember?" Lissa pointed out. "Worms wriggling in the ground. And Ed, Al… Isn't that exactly what I said to you in Dublith, about the homunculi?"

Ed's eyes shot wide. "Shit, that's right. Lan Fan described the same thing."

Mustang gave Lissa a sharp look. "You and I are going to have a talk about this later," he told her, rather sternly. Then a smirk broke out on his face, and he told them, "Well… Whether he's monster or human… Either way, these new developments will make it easier to remove him from the seat of power."

Of course. It always came back to his ambitions.

"First we get information out of this one," he continued, jerking a thumb at Gluttony's wriggling form, "and I'll take his stone. It may prove useful in treating my man."

 _Havoc._ But…taking the Philosopher's Stone that powered Gluttony…

"Hey, you!" Ling snapped, lunging and grabbing Mustang by his lapels. "Lan Fan lost her arm to get him! He's _our_ captive! We're taking him back to Xing!"

Ed pulled on his arm angrily. "Hold it! He could help us get our bodies back! We've been working on that for a long time, I'm not going to let you just waltz off with him!"

Lissa winced and looked up at Al. This wasn't the best situation, with all this tension… It could go south in a heartbeat.

"That's right," Mustang added sharply. "Think about it, Ling. You're an illegal alien!"

Knox groaned and stepped back. "I'm too old for this kinda thing," he muttered. "Good luck, Mustang. I'm going home."

"Mustang?" a labored voice squeaked. "Colonel Mustang?!"

Lissa flinched back. Was that…Gluttony talking? "Guys, hold on for a second!" she yelled, taking Ed around the middle and forcibly pulling him away. "Something doesn't feel right here, you need to calm down and _listen_ for a second!"

There was a horrible wrenching sound from Gluttony's direction, like metal straining. And finally they all froze, staring in shock as the homunculus's body continued expanding, pressing against the cables holding him in place—then he began to _stand up_ , fighting his bonds, his feet planting unsteadily on the ground as he screeched, " _ROY MUSTANG!_ "

Something writhed on his stomach. Lissa gripped Ed tighter as a line appeared, curved—and peeled open to reveal an enormous _eye_ , surrounded by horrific, razor-sharp _teeth_.

The eye crackled with red energy, and Lissa sensed the disturbance in the air, the shifting that belied… _something_ coming. "Move!" she screamed. She used the leverage she already had on Ed to yank him back with her as she thrust her right arm forward, compressing the air in the doorway and expanding it, forcefully. Not a second too soon, either. The entire group was sent flying back just as Gluttony's stomach sent out a wave of consuming energy, completely evaporating an enormous hole in the side of the house.

Lissa rolled to her knees immediately, Ed and Ling right beside her, staring into the emptiness that _used_ to be part of the house. He'd…the homunculus had turned into…something _else_.

"What was that?!" Riza's panicked voice floated in from outside. "Colonel! What's going on?"

Across the space Gluttony had just consumed, Lissa heard Mustang yell, "Hawkeye, _stop_!" just a split second before Gluttony attacked again, sending another burst of energy out the same gap.

Part of the house crumbled, and Lissa jerked back, dragging Ling by his collar to avoid the debris she sensed over their heads. In the semidarkness, she could just make out Gluttony's altered form, teeth like an expanded ribcage protruding, eyes glowing a sick red color. His whole lower jaw seemed to have opened, shifting to be part of that horrible gaping _maw_ with the eye at the center.

"Ling, get Lan Fan!" Lissa snapped, shoving him behind her and towards the end of the hall. "She can't move if Gluttony goes after her!"

He gritted his teeth and nodded. "Right!" Ling sprang to his feet and raced off immediately.

At the edge of the destruction, Lissa saw the debris shift, saw Hawkeye step into view and aim a pistol that way—but it was just Al, shoving free of the wood with Mustang and Knox below him, safe. The little panda had attached herself to Mustang's face, and he pulled her off and set her aside. "Lieutenant, don't provoke him!" he ordered. "I'm the one he wants!"

"Liss, c'mon, we gotta move!" Ed told her sharply, taking her arm and hauling her up. She sprinted out through the gap beside him, with Al and Mustang following close behind, while Dr. Knox was quick to move further away, to the far side of the house. Good. This wasn't any place for a doctor, not against that… _thing_. She was honestly a bit terrified to face him, in this advanced form… Gluttony in his original form wasn't so horrifying.

"Let's go," Mustang ordered. He ripped his normal gloves off with his teeth and slid his ignition gloves on decisively. "We have to bring him down!"

Al peered at him uncertainly, with the panda sitting on his shoulder. "But we worked so hard to catch one of the homunculi," he pointed out.

Mustang shook his head. "Survival is our first priority. Besides, he knows our names and faces now. It would be foolish to let him leave here alive!" He reeled his right arm back, snapped, and sent a blast of fire directly at the homunculus.

Lissa squinted against the explosion, watching Gluttony's silhouette through the fire as he screamed—but then she felt the air shift.

"Something's wrong," she hissed. "He's—dragging it inside!"

As they watched, the fire swirled, the air switching directions as Mustang's attack was _sucked into Gluttony's_ stomach, right through that grotesque eyeball.

"Fuck. He swallowed it?" Ed groaned in disbelief.

"Uh-oh," Al whispered.

As Gluttony attacked again, the teeth around his stomach snapping out to grab them, the four scattered immediately and sprinted for the nearby trees. So the damned thing could eat fire?! What the hell?!

"Oh, that worked well!" Ed sneered as they ran.

"Think you can do better?" Mustang snarled. "Be my guest!"

"Or we could just leave you behind, Colonel!" Al pointed out. "You're the one he really wants!"

Lissa rolled her eyes. _Boys…_

"Y'know, splitting up might actually give us an advantage!" she yelled.

Mustang nodded shortly. "Those trees over there. Spread out!"

Lissa ducked left, veering off from the others and racing into the trees, trying to keep a fix on each of their individual energies to know where they were—she could feel Ed, to her left, amber and crystalline stars; Al almost directly behind her at this angle, ink and parchment; and Mustang on her right, the searing heat of fire and the sting of icy metal. Always a dichotomy.

And…she could sense Gluttony, though her skin crawled every time she tested where he was.

There was one more as well—gunmetal and smoke and the forest after rain. _Riza_. She'd have Mustang's back, then.

Lissa switched directions when she felt the others rearrange, following the closest energy until she rounded a tree and rammed straight into Alphonse's chest.

"Oops!" he squeaked. "Sorry, Lissa!"

She shook her head. "No, it's fine, Al. We need to get the hell out of here, I can feel Ed and Mustang—but I think Gluttony might have gotten off Mustang's trail, I'm not sure." Lissa gripped his forearm hard, unwilling to let the boy out of her sight again. Being separated from her boys was always terrifying. "Wait, they're…"

Lissa spun in time to catch Mustang as he stumbled out of the trees, Ed and Riza right at his heels. "You complete idiot," she groaned, scarcely able to support him. "You're still injured, aren't you?"

He gave her a rueful grin. "Now isn't the time to give me a lecture, Starlight."

Ed jerked his thumb behind them. "We gave it a decoy to chew on. That should buy us some time, we left the Colonel's jacket on it so hopefully that homunculus will track _that_ scent, not us. But we gotta move."

Lissa passed Mustang off to Riza and took the lead, letting her senses guide her straight to where Ling, Lan Fan, and Dr. Knox waited by the house. The doctor had brought Mustang's car around, and they'd gotten Lan Fan into the back as well, thankfully. As they reached the car, a screech echoed out of the trees: " _NO!_ "

Ed smiled grimly. "Perfect. He fell for the Mustang decoy."

"Doesn't sound like he's very happy about it," Al observed.

Sighing, Ed turned and began to help Riza get Mustang walking again, as he was pretty much overwhelmed with his side hurting at that point. "All right, now get in the car…invalid," he muttered, sort of forcing Mustang in the open door.

"Lieutenant, please take care of Lan Fan," Al asked of Riza.

Lissa nodded. "She's still unstable—I can feel how labored her breathing is from here. So you guys need to hurry and get out of here."

Ling gave her a poignant look—he'd reached the same inevitable conclusion she and the boys had, then.

"You expect me to run away and leave this to you, Elric?!" Mustang snapped, incensed.

But Ed glowered at him through the open window. "If you stay you'll just get in our way!" he growled.

"Yeah! Leave!" Al demanded as well.

Even Riza nodded. "They're right," she agreed, sternly. "You won't be any use here. Sorry."

Lissa touched Ed's wrist, settling him just a bit—so his next admonition came out less…wrathful. "Right now, you need to go and do your job," he insisted firmly. "The head of the military is a homunculus. Don't you think you should do something about _that_?"

"The head of the military?" Riza repeated, her brow furrowed. "You're talking about Führer Bradley, aren't you?"

Knox leaned back and scowled at them. "We can talk about it later! Now, get in!" he snapped, eyeing the four teenagers still standing outside the car.

Lissa exchanged looks with the three—Ling, Ed, and Al in turn, all four nodding firmly. They knew. They _all_ knew what had to be done here. And it wasn't hard to accept it, really, with the boys backing her up, with the knowledge resting on her shoulders that there was truly no other option.

"The car looks full," Ed pointed out, smiling. "You go ahead."

Knox's eyes shot wide. "You dumbasses!" he yelled.

"You can't really believe we'll let a few children fight this battle for us!" Riza shouted, looking truly angry—and concerned, behind that.

Ling smirked. "With the senior staff involved in this, you're gonna need all the help you can get," he pointed out.

Ed slung his arm around Lissa's shoulders and nodded. "And that would include getting whatever information we can out of this Gluttony guy, wouldn't you say?"

"It _was_ our plan in the first place," Lissa added.

"We'll stay here and find out what we can. I don't think it matters much that we're children," Al asserted, his voice steady and sure.

"It's like Liss said. This was our mission to begin with, and we're going to see it through." Ed's fingers tightened on her shoulder as he spoke, tugging her in close. She appreciated the connection, the reassurance before they went into this. "We appreciate your help up 'til now, though."

Riza's jaw set—then she loaded her pistol and stuck it out the car window, handle first. "Here, Edward. I want you to take this," she told him firmly. "You do know how to use it, don't you?"

Ed stared at the gun in shock, his comforting grip suddenly turning much too tight, nails digging into Lissa's shoulder. She knew he hated guns, didn't like the violence attached to them, never wanted anything to do with them. They both knew how to use firearms, of course—it was required for anyone in the military, even state alchemists—but most alchemists tended to dismiss the use of them. And Ed in particular had a serious distaste for this sort of thing.

"That's a weapon for killing people," Al murmured, staring down at it.

"Yes," Riza agreed softly. "But it's also a weapon for protecting your lives."

Ed's gaze shifted sideways to Lissa, just for a moment—and in that second, she saw this…unfathomable sorrow in him, a resignation she'd never seen before. "I'll take it," he agreed quietly, reaching out and accepting the gun from Riza's hand.

Something exploded behind them, deep in the forest, and Lissa gritted her teeth. They didn't have much time left.

"Look after Lan Fan," Ling asked of Riza, who nodded her agreement.

Lissa stepped back and tapped Ling's shoulder. "We gotta move," she told him. He nodded, his gaze turning sharper. She exchanged a single, pointed look with her boys—and then the four took off running, back into the forest towards Gluttony.

"This way, right?" Lissa confirmed with the Xingese prince, taking the lead beside him.

He pointed ahead. "Yes. I sense him this way. But if we loop around to the side, we can assess exactly what he's doing and figure out our plan of attack. Follow me."

Ling led them to a thickly-wooded section of forest, and they all ducked behind the trees there, watching Gluttony's mutated form stomping around, occasionally letting out bursts of that strange alchemical energy and swallowing huge chunks of the ground in his rage. He was…really horrifying this way, his other version comparatively tame when juxtaposed against this one.

"I know we said we'd stay and all," Ed muttered, eyeing the homunculus, "but that's seriously freaky."

"He seems to be a bit angry," Ling observed anxiously.

Al glanced at them, nervous. "So…how are we gonna catch him?"

"That's a good question," Lissa muttered. "I think…" But something pressed at the back of her neck, her senses alight—and she whirled at the same time as Ling did, brandishing his sword, both staring at the same spot just up a small hill behind them.

"What is that?" Al breathed. "Is that a dog?"

Sure enough, there was a…dog standing there. But Lissa could feel her skin crawling at its presence, and knew in her heart it was definitely _not_ a dog. "Not quite," she corrected softly.

"Stop it!" the dog yelled, in a familiar, rough voice. "Stop it now, Gluttony!"

Ed scrunched his face up in confusion. "A—a talking dog?!"

The dog cast its red-eyed gaze on him and sort of…grinned. "Hey. Long time no see," it greeted.

"That's a homunculus," Lissa muttered, gripping down on the sleeve of Ed's shirt.

Moments later the dog's body sparked with red light, the transmutation energy she was beginning to associate solely with homunculi—and the dog shifted before their eyes, standing up on two legs from four, as an all-too familiar homunculus took form. Spiky hair settled over a youthful, angular face, and the homunculus from beneath the Fifth Laboratory grinned down at them. "How are ya, Fullmetal pipsqueak?"

Ed rushed for them immediately. "Dammit, I told you before!" he snarled. "Don't call me short!"

"Ed, no!" Lissa cried, chasing after him. He leapt for the homunculus, who dodged smoothly, evading the attacks Ed threw at him, all physical combat rather than alchemy. He had to be _really_ pissed to forgo using alchemy, damn.

"Hey, calm down!" they cried, holding out their hands to stop him. "I'm just here to get Gluttony back, nothing more than that! I don't want to fight you, pipsqueak."

Ed's face contorted. "That's five now!" he ground out, leaping into another attack.

The homunculus dodged and leapt up to a tree branch, staring down at him in utter confusion. "What are you talking about?" they asked, baffled.

"That's five times!" Ed railed. "You called me _pipsqueak_ twice here, and three times in the laboratory!" He clenched his automail fist and glared up at them. "And don't tell me you've forgotten already!"

The homunculus gave him an exasperated look. "Impressive," they muttered. "You've got a sharp memory there."

Lissa finally caught up, stepping in front of Ed to fend off any further attacks. No matter how offended he was, she was intrigued by whatever the hell this homunculus was doing—because they certainly weren't attacking. Even at the Fifth Laboratory they'd gone after Ed and Lissa, just a bit. "So which one are you?" she called up, folding her arms.

They eyed her. "Huh? Which one?"

"Which sin," she clarified. "You homunculi are all named after the Seven Deadly Sins. So which one are you, then?"

"Oh!" They grinned, and Lissa's skin crawled. "You picked up on it. Nice." A sort of head-tilt bow. "Name's Envy. Nice to officially meetcha. Now, if your little boyfriend's done screaming at me, I'm gonna go collect Gluttony." With that, they hopped off the branch and headed towards Gluttony, who was still stumbling around whining.

"Hold it!" Ed yelled, seething.

Lissa rounded on him. "We could _use_ the opportunity, dummy!" she told him severely. "If that homunculus Envy can get Gluttony to stop freaking out, we might stand a chance!"

He winced. "Shit. Good point."

They raced back to where Ling and Al waited, near the two homunculi, reaching the odd group to find Gluttony whining at Envy—something about wanting to eat Mustang, and the homunculus called Lust. Apparently this was an ongoing issue.

"You don't _get_ the Colonel," Envy told him dryly. "Or the Elric brothers, or the female alchemist."

"Why not?" Gluttony whimpered.

Ling sort of smirked at the two homunculi. "I've sensed this multiplicity before," he mused. "So… How many people are inside you, homunculus?"

Envy narrowed their eyes at him. "I know you," they noted, absently resting their elbow atop Gluttony's head. It painted an odd picture, especially since Gluttony's stomach was still gaping. "You're the kid who crossed swords with Wrath, aren't you?"

"What do you mean, _kid_?" Ling demanded, taking immediate offense. "I happen to be the twelfth son of the emperor of Xing! My name is-"

"Eat him."

Lissa jolted. _The hell did that asshole just say?!_

Ling's jaw dropped—then he frantically took off running, Gluttony at his heels, slavering just behind him.

"Wait," Lissa breathed. "He can only go after Ling? So…"

Ed grinned at her and Al. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" he asked wryly, cracking the knuckles of his left hand.

Al bobbed his head. "Looks like they really aren't allowed to do anything to the three of us."

"In which case…" Ed clapped his hands together and pressed them to the ground, dropping to one knee for a moment. An enormous wall sprang up between Gluttony and Ling, causing the fat homunculus to bounce backwards unexpectedly, separating them immediately. "Ling! You get that one!" Ed ordered, pointing at Envy.

Gluttony took a step backwards as the three alchemists advanced on him, fear glimmering in his eyes. Lissa glanced sideways at Ed and nodded. Then she shot forward, parting the air around her, and took off after Gluttony as he let out a wail of terror.

"Al!" Lissa shouted over her shoulder. "I need a boost!"

"I'm on it!" he called back.

She felt the ground shift underneath her feet, tensed, and then leapt forward as Al transmuted a rising platform under her, angled to give her a boost towards Gluttony. Lissa rammed into the homunculus dead on, right at the center of his back, and kicked him forward end over end. At the same time, Ed transmuted an enormous hole in the ground, like a well, right in front of Gluttony—who toppled right in, flailing helplessly.

"Nice!" Ed cheered, rushing up beside her to peer inside, Al right next to him. "Got 'im!"

But Gluttony leapt out, springing upwards with the aid of those horrible extending tooth-ribs still protruding from his gut. "Whew! That was a close one," he panted.

Ed glared at him. "I've had enough of you!" he snarled, rushing in close and unleashing a flurry of quick attacks, all of which the homunculus frantically dodged.

"Get away!" Gluttony squealed. "I can't eat you! Just let me take a bite out of the other guy!"

But Al ran up behind him and grabbed him under the arms, hoisting him up and pinning him in a single motion. "Not today!"

Gluttony shrieked and heaved Al forward, up and over himself, flinging him right at Ed—and the damned wall. Lissa cursed and tried to pad the air against the wall, but a moment too late, only succeeding in keeping Ed from being totally crushed as he and Al smashed right through to the other side.

"Stay out of my way, guys!" Ling chided. "I'm busy!"

Lissa planted herself in front of Gluttony and raised her hands. "You keep back!" she snarled. "You're not eating our friend!"

The homunculus seemed to _pout_ at her. "But I wanna!" He leapt up, _over_ Lissa's head, and ran through the gap before she had a chance to stop him. Cursing, Lissa boosted herself over the wall, landing just outside the ditch, stunned to see Ling bent over… _Lan Fan?_

"Ling, they're a shapeshifter!" Lissa yelled, recoiling in horror as she pieced it together. "It's not her!"

Envy grinned up at her with Lan Fan's face. "Go for it, Gluttony!"

"Ling!" Ed cried, racing to get the prince out of the way with Al just behind him. He cut sideways, ramming into Ling as Envy lunged upward. All out of reach to her. So Lissa darted forward, forced to trust Ed to get Ling out of the way, the air crackling blue as she went for the one person who didn't stand a chance of evading in time.

"Alphonse, look out!" she screamed, ramming into him full-force.

The world exploded behind her, Gluttony's horrible swallowing power unleashing a mere centimeter in front of Al's outstretched hand. She _felt_ it, felt it graze the back of her hair and sever an inch from the bottom, before she tumbled to the ground with Al's arm around her, keeping her from flying off anywhere else and getting hurt. Lissa lay there a moment, panting hard, before she shoved up and spun around to see the damage. Gluttony stood to her left, at the far end of a brand-new chasm cut in the ground, one finger stuck in his mouth uncertainly. To her right, the bottom half of what looked like Lan Fan was disintegrating, cut off from Envy's Philosopher's Stone.

A tree snapped and broke nearby.

"No," she whispered. "No, no, no… _No…_ "

The space where Ling, Envy, and Ed had been…was _empty_.

Gluttony whined softly. "Swallowed them?"

Al lunged, grabbed Gluttony by his rib-teeth, and slammed him into the ground full force. "Brother!" he screamed. "Ling! You—spit them out!" he demanded of the homunculus, his voice high-pitched and desperate. "Damn you, spit them out _now_!"

Lissa crashed to her knees, her hands falling limply at her sides.

"I can't," Gluttony told him softly, his stomach slowly closing up. "I swallowed them."

She dug her fingers into the dirt, her body beginning to tremble, vision blurring. _No… No… He can't…he can't be…_

"Impossible," Al whispered, his voice breaking. "It can't be… _Brother!_ "

Lissa folded in on herself as Al screamed, pure agony, the weight of his suffering twisting with her own and dragging her down. Tears cascaded down her cheeks, burning her eyes, but she couldn't move to wipe them away. She couldn't breathe. Ed was gone. _Gone_. He'd been swallowed, eaten, vanished into that—that _monster's_ stomach.

The sound of Al sobbing pierced her dazed state, and she lifted her head, seeing him on his knees in front of Gluttony, the homunculus staring down at him in a sort of horror. Al's whole body was shaking, his hands crackling with latent transmutic energy, his emotions so overwhelmed he might destroy the whole area with a single gesture. He'd lost his brother. Lissa choked on her own self-hatred. How could she sit there and wallow in her own despair when Al…kindhearted Alphonse…had just lost his own _brother_.

She stumbled to her feet, knees barely able to support her, legs wobbling at every step—but she forced herself to hold it together and stepped down into the ditch, sliding down the incline. "Al," she murmured, approaching him. He didn't acknowledge her, so she rested her hand on his back and stroked down the cool metal, aware he couldn't quite feel it, but knowing he'd sense her presence all the same. "Alphonse, come on… Come here…"

He shuddered underneath her palm but didn't get up, didn't move at all.

Lissa knelt beside him and touched the side of his helmet gently. "C'mon, little brother," she whispered. He looked at her sharply, his voice catching on a sob. "Let's get out of this ditch, at least. Okay?"

Al nodded slowly, pushing to his feet. She took his hand and guided him from the ditch, noticing as the little panda crawled up her leg and came to sit on her shoulder—and even Gluttony followed, waddling after them without any clear purpose for himself at the moment. But she was only worried about Al, the way he was trembling uncontrollably, how faint the light of his eyes was…

Lissa led him to sit under the trees nearby, the furthest she could force herself to go. He sank down there heavily and dropped his head into his hands, still sobbing weakly. All she could do was kneel beside him and rest her hands on his armor, her heart aching for him, every part of her screaming out in pain at the loss—and the horrible reality of sitting there by a crying boy she considered her little brother, who couldn't even feel it when she _hugged_ him.

"What do we do?" Al whispered. "He—he's _gone_ , Lissa. Brother can't be gone, can he?"

She rested her forehead on his arm and shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I—don't want to believe it… I can't…" Her throat ached as she held back another wave of tears. "I…didn't protect him, I'm so sorry, Al, I…"

"Neither of us did," he murmured, looking back up at her. "He was trying to save Ling… Brother always tried to help everyone but himself…"

Despite her best efforts, Lissa sobbed weakly, burying her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, little brother," she choked out. "I'm so sorry…"

Al brought his arms around her, and they clung together, holding tight against the agony.

Edward…was gone.

* * *

(Um... Don't hate me?)


	31. Worse and Better

This took me longer than I thought! The past couple weeks have been crazy busy, but it's been a complete blast - I feel like a normal person again for a few reasons, so hopefully things will just go up from here. And in line with that...I edited this giant beast of a chapter! This is the long one I talked about, so fingers crossed it goes over well. I was so, so happy to see you all liked the last one, with the choice not to send Lissa into Gluttony's portal and her relationship with Al. That's one of my favorite parts to come from this sequence, honestly! So as always, I hope you enjoy this one! And thank you for continuing to join me on Lissa's journey, it means the absolute world to me.

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Lissa opened her eyes as sunlight crept over the horizon. Her eyes were crusted from sleep and crying, her head ached… She felt guilty for sleeping, but her body had just given up, too overwhelmed from the night before. Slowly, she sat up and wiped her eyes, realizing she'd been sleeping halfway in Al's lap, with him looming over her like a silent guardian. "Sorry I fell asleep," she murmured, looking up at him sadly.

He shook his head. "It's okay."

"How—how long did I…"

"Just a couple hours."

Lissa rested her forehead against his arm and sighed. "I'm sorry, Al. I didn't mean to leave you alone." She rubbed at her dry, itchy eyes and screwed them shut. The pain was different today, not quite duller but more acute, concentrated at her heart. Ed had been swallowed. Every time the words echoed in her head she felt a strike of pain that nearly knocked her into sobbing again.

Something mumbled behind her, and she turned to see Gluttony teetering on his feet, one finger stuck into the corner of his mouth, watching them.

"So he's just…stayed?" she asked Al quietly.

He nodded. "I don't think he knows where to go now. He's not trying to eat us, at least. Though…" His voice darkened. "Maybe if he did, he'd take us to-"

Lissa touched his chest lightly. "Ed wouldn't want that, little brother."

Al sighed roughly and nodded, his shoulders slumping. "I know." He looked at her for a moment. "You…keep calling me…"

"It's true," she murmured, refusing to feel embarrassed. "You…you basically are my little brother, Al. After everything… And now…" Lissa shut her eyes tightly. "Until we find Ed, it's my job to look after you, like a big sister should. Okay?" _Even though I've failed at that… Even though I failed to keep Ed safe too, and he might be… He might not even be…_

Her eyes stung as a few tears trickled out, ones she couldn't keep in.

"Sorry," Lissa blurted, quickly wiping them away. "I shouldn't—I don't have any right to—I'm not-"

"I know about you and brother," Al interrupted softly. "You shouldn't feel bad for hurting. We're both suffering."

Lissa winced and ducked her head. So he had known… Of course he had, it was stupid to think otherwise… He was much too perceptive to have missed it. "I'm sorry… This isn't how I wanted to…go about it, I never…" She cut herself off. "We'll get him back, Al. We have to." Though she had no idea where to begin… Lissa had grown so used to having a path, a set direction, that it was _terrifying_ to sit there without a single clue of how to proceed. But she was certain of one thing.

If…if the worst was true, and Ed couldn't come back… Then she was going to find a way to get Al into his real body again. Even if it meant sacrificing limbs, using a Philosopher's Stone, whatever the hell she had to do… She would find a way. It was all she could do.

But sitting here on her ass wasn't going to fix a single fucking thing.

Lissa gritted her teeth and shoved upward, rising and turning to face the homunculus. He stared at her sort of fearfully, jerking back from where he'd been eyeing the tiny panda like his next snack. "Gluttony," she addressed him firmly. "Why haven't you left? What's keeping you here with us, instead of running off somewhere?"

"I don't know what to do," Gluttony admitted, whimpering. He worried his fingers together, looking sort of…childish in that moment. He wasn't exactly like the others, she noted—while the other homunculi acted like adults, Gluttony seemed to be the baby, with his childlike mentality and need to be watched over. Like he was being babysat, honestly. So he'd looked to her and Al as…what, the next closest authority figures? Strange. "What…what should I do?" the homunculus asked helplessly.

"I have no idea," Al told him quietly.

Gluttony whined softly, at the back of his throat. "What do I do?" he whispered. "I… I'm scared."

Lissa glanced back at Al, still sitting slumped on the ground. "Yeah," she sighed, nodding reluctantly. "Us too."

Some part of her…pitied the creature, in that moment. It was strange, considering what he'd done, how awful these homunculi seemed… Yet she sensed true fear in Gluttony, the sharp tinge of salt, a genuine emotion beyond his own ravenous hunger—she knew damn well he wasn't supposed to touch her, or Ed, or Al, and he'd broken that rule. Shit, he'd even swallowed _Envy_.

Envy…who had actually tried to save Ed, now that she had a moment to consider it. Not that it made them redeemable—but it told her just how desperate these homunculi were to keep their _sacrifices_ alive.

Maybe…maybe there was something to that, then. Something they could use.

Lissa looked back at Al, worrying, fretting over his unending silence. He needed…a path, just like she did. But Ed usually made all the decisions, picked where to go, guided everything. It was difficult to do it alone.

She turned back to Gluttony, trying to press forward. "Gluttony… Why are you scared? Is it because you swallowed Ed?" Unsure if he knew Ed's name, she added, "The one with the metal arm."

Gluttony nodded dejectedly. "Shouldn't have swallowed him," he mumbled. "I don't want father to be mad at me."

"What did you say?" Al breathed behind her, his armor clanking as he looked up. "You—you have a _father_?" It was the first time he'd addressed the homunculus so directly—and the first time Lissa had heard true energy in his voice since Ed and Ling vanished.

The homunculus nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh!"

Al reached up and closed his hand around Lissa's wrist tightly. "Is he the one who made the homunculi?" he asked.

Gluttony nodded again, smiling now, happy to talk about this. "Father made us," he confirmed brightly.

Lissa turned to Al, frowning, aware enough of his emotions to tell his mind was spinning. "Al, what are you thinking?" she asked him. "I know you, I know you're onto something…" She hoped _so_ badly he'd talk to her, tell her what was going on in his mind… Al was wicked smart, though he rarely got credit for it. If he had an idea…

"Well…" Al reached out and squished Gluttony's belly thoughtfully, making the homunculus squirm unhappily. "You can't just…make things vanish. Something can't become nothing. So…so they had to have gone somewhere, right? Even if it's just some kind of trick or—or maybe a portal…"

 _A portal…_

"Wait, like the portal of truth? The thing you and Ed went through?" Lissa had a sick feeling in her stomach. "You think maybe that was something like the gateway?"

Al nodded slowly. "Maybe… Like a portal to somewhere else…"

She twisted the fingers of her free hand together, considering it. "Okay… So if it's a portal, then where does it go? Homunculi are created by alchemy, which means they obey the basic alchemical laws… So you're right that anything swallowed by Gluttony would have to end up somewhere. Alchemy can't just make something vanish into nothing, that's not possible."

 _If he's right… That would mean Ed and Ling are just trapped somewhere._

"It would have to be some kind of…other dimension, like the portal of truth but different since it doesn't technically require human transmutation to get there." Al's hand tightened on her just a bit. "Unless it's sort of a form of human transmutation… But…" He shook his head firmly. "It doesn't matter _how_. If they're still somewhere, then that means you and I can find them and either get to them, or bring them back. Lissa…" He looked up at her, through those glowing eyes, with such an…inner strength, so much ferocity suddenly burning in him. Lissa just waited as he gripped both her hands in his, his gaze unwavering. "We made a promise. We swore we'd look after brother. He might still be alive—but the only way we're going to find out is if we follow this lead."

Lissa nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on him. He was right. And sitting here bawling wasn't going to do anything—they'd promised to take care of Ed, and that promise didn't stop just because he'd vanished. "Right. So let's do it, together."

"Together," Al repeated firmly. He pushed to his feet in a sudden motion, releasing her hands to do it, and moved to stand beside her, facing down the homunculus with new resolve. "Gluttony, will you take us with you? Will you take us to meet your father?"

Gluttony tipped his head to one side. "I guess so," he chirped. "He'll be happy since you're human sacrifices!"

Al glanced at Lissa uncertainly. "Oh…sure, right," he agreed tentatively. "That's why he'll want to meet us."

Lissa wrinkled her nose at that—the whole _human sacrifices_ thing was still kind of…gross, somehow. She knew Ed and Al were supposed to be sacrifices, and she was on some list of potential sacrifices, but…why? They'd never found a concrete answer.

As Gluttony toddled off, smiling benignly, Al picked up the little panda and set her onto his shoulder. Then he offered Lissa his hand, sort of hesitantly, like he wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do. She just grabbed his hand and set off with him, following their homunculus guide. "It's strange," she murmured, inclining her head at Gluttony. "He still feels…like he did before, that uncomfortable sense… But on his own he's not nearly as terrifying as the others. I doubt Envy would be so…useful."

"Right," he agreed softly. "Do you…do you think this is the right thing to do?"

"I think it's the only thing to do," she admitted, shrugging. "Ed wouldn't give up on us, so we won't give up on him."

Al's hand tightened on hers—she realized it was a reflex, not something he could _feel_ , just something his soul did automatically. The poor kid… "Thank you…for saving me. I should've said that earlier, but I-"

"It's okay, Al. You don't need to thank me," she told him quietly.

But he shook his head. "M-maybe if you hadn't…then you would've had time to…go after brother, and…"

Lissa gave him a sad smile. "I didn't have time, no matter what. I don't regret going after you, okay? I made that choice myself. Honestly, I…I don't think there was any way to avoid it, not once Ed went after Ling. It's like you said… He always looks after everyone but himself." And this time…it had gotten him into real trouble. Yet Lissa couldn't resent him for it, for the decision to throw himself into harm's way to try and save Ling—that stupid protective streak was one of her favorite things about him.

"Always," Al agreed, his shoulders slumping. "We gotta get him back, Lissa. We're supposed to take care of him."

"And we will," she told him firmly.

Gluttony led them to the edge of the hill, just waddling along happily but with a clear direction—and when Lissa spotted what lay ahead, she and Al both froze in place in utter shock.

"Are you sure this is the right way, Gluttony?" Al asked him nervously.

The homunculus nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh!"

"But…" Al shook his head faintly. "This is the way… It _can't_ be… Your father is living in Central?!"

Lissa let out a harsh breath, her chest aching as she stared down at _Central_ , now apparent as Gluttony's destination. "Remember, Al… The Führer is involved… So Central Command has been infiltrated… I guess…I guess it makes sense since we first encountered the homunculi here, Ed and I ran into Envy and Lust down at the Fifth Lab." She pressed a hand to her chest absently and winced. _That doesn't feel right._

Gluttony whimpered and twisted his hands together. "L-Lust…"

"You wanna make your father happy, right?" Lissa prompted, getting the homunculus to look at her. He nodded quickly. "Then we need to get going. Take us there."

It worked, thankfully—Gluttony continued his waddling little path down the hill, and Lissa followed with Al still holding her by the hand. Dammit, she hoped this would work… If they put themselves in the enemy's lair for nothing… But _no_ , it had to work. They couldn't give up on Edward. The only choice now was to go right to the source—the creator of the homunculi.

—

Gluttony led Alphonse and Lissa deep into the heart of Central, following back alleys and hidden pathways to avoid being spotted—apparently the homunculi had pretty solid ways to sneak around in such a heavily populated city. Lissa supposed it made sense. Lust and Envy could've moved around fairly unnoticed, but Gluttony would stand out in a crowd for the most part, and she had no idea about the others.

 _Envy, Lust, Greed, and Gluttony. And we have Wrath, Pride, and Sloth still to find. If the Führer is a homunculus, he's one of those—and I'd bet on Wrath or Pride, considering his personality._

"Hey, Gluttony… What do you call Führer Bradley?" Lissa asked, following as the homunculus led them down yet another dingy, cluttered alleyway. "We know he's a homunculus, so you aren't telling us any important information."

He bobbed his head in a sort of agreement. "That's Wrath," Gluttony told her cheerily.

 _Wrath. Only two left, then._

Lissa shared a glance with Al—the confirmation that Bradley was a homunculus, and _Wrath_ of all things, wasn't exactly a comfort.

"Here!" Gluttony finally chirped, pointing to a hole in the wall, behind a rusted old metal grate. "Father is down here!" The homunculus pulled the grate back and headed down inside without hesitation, and Al went to follow him…but Lissa was frozen with a sudden wave of pure _terror_. She'd never felt anything like it before, never… This horrific presence, writhing under her skin, the ashen weight of death choking her lungs…

"Lissa?" Al grabbed her by the shoulders and she flinched, her chest aching again. "I—I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

She nodded slowly, coming back to herself with his now gentle hold. "I'm okay, Al… My ribs might be broken again, that's all… I just…" Lissa shuddered and leaned into him. "It feels… _awful_ down there… Whoever their father is…he's…" She shut her eyes tightly, nearly overwhelmed with it. "I've never felt anything this evil."

Al squeezed down on her shoulders, more carefully this time. "It'll be okay. We'll do it together. Right, big sister?"

Lissa swallowed back a sob and nodded. _Together. For Ed's sake, and Ling's._

So she pushed away the fear, the visceral terror, smothered her extra sense—and walked beside Al down into the darkness.

It was a little easier to bear, restricting her abilities like that, but Lissa couldn't shake her deep unease the further they went. The stairs led out into a long hallway, through a few twists and turns, and every step was just…worse and worse. All her instincts _screamed_ to leave, to run right back out the way they'd come and go as far away from this place as possible, but…

Edward.

Lissa remembered what he'd said about her in Resembool—how she'd do anything to protect the people she cared about, almost to a fault. And here she was, doing exactly that, racing headfirst into their damned enemy's lair just because of a _chance_ to rescue Ed. Still not at her limit of what she'd do for the people she cared about. Maybe there wasn't a limit, not really. She was beginning to think that she'd never find a limit on what she'd do for her boys.

"What's the matter?" she heard Al ask softly. "Are you cold? It's okay."

She peered up to see the tiny panda sitting on his shoulder, clinging to his finger and shivering. "Poor little thing," Lissa murmured, reaching up to pet the panda between her ears. "We'll keep you safe, sweetie."

Gluttony stuck his head back around the corner in front of them and waved eagerly. "This way!"

The hallway emptied out into a much wider tunnel, cut down the middle by a flow of water, or…sewage, maybe, judging by the horrid smell. Lissa resisted the urge to pinch her nose. So the sewers were connected to this guy's lair, then? But it didn't seem like a regular sewer tunnel, judging by the lack of ladders and manhole covers… Just how deep were they?

"Woah," Al breathed, peering around in the gloom. "I didn't know there were tunnels like this under Central."

Lissa turned to follow Gluttony, wrapping her arms across her abdomen. As she stepped, her foot landed on something that _wasn't_ just regular flat concrete—which _snapped_ beneath her weight. She yelped and jerked away, pressing her back into Al's chestplate when she realized she'd stepped clean through a fucking bone. A _human_ bone, with a cracked skull beside it. As she looked, her gaze darting from place to place, she began to realize the whole tunnel was _littered_ with human bones, picked clean of flesh.

"I don't like this at all," she whispered.

Al pulled her along with him as Gluttony kept walking, snapping back to himself quicker than she did, though he guided her carefully around the piles of bones. "H-hey!" he called, as they caught up to the homunculus. "What's with all that? The—bones and stuff."

Gluttony paused and turned to face them. "Huh? Oh." He shrugged. "The gatekeepers did all that." Then, with his usual beatific smile in place, he turned back and continued on his way.

"The gatekeepers?" Al repeated, baffled.

"They won't rip you up as long as you're with me," Gluttony added brightly.

Lissa heard a rustle above her—and looked up sharply to see what seemed like _hundreds_ of red eyes staring down at her behind a simple mesh barrier, embedded in the ceiling. "Oh, fucking hell," she breathed.

Al pressed his hand between her shoulderblades and urged her forward. "Just pretend they aren't there," he told her shakily.

"Kinda difficult with them _looking_ at me," she hissed. "What do you think they are, anyway? It doesn't feel like they're homunculi… More like…" Lissa risked tapping into her senses, just for a moment, and felt a shiver run down her spine. "They're chimeras, Al. Rotten fruit. I'd know that feeling anywhere. They've got _chimeras_ guarding this place."

"Chimeras?" He looked up at the ceiling fearfully, just for a moment, before shaking his head decisively. "We can't worry about that. We just have to keep going."

Lissa shot a glance up towards the chimeras anxiously, but she knew he was right—they had to keep going. So she forced her legs to move, to take one step after another, and continued following Gluttony further into the depths of Central.

"Do we have much further?" Al asked their guide, after a while.

Gluttony shook his head. "Not too far. It's just ahead now."

So they were close… Good. Lissa was starting to feel _way_ too sick with the rotten fruit nudging at the back of her neck and the cloying scent of the sewers—as terrified as she was, she was beginning to just want this over with. She wanted answers.

"You said your father made you…" Al stared at the back of Gluttony's head thoughtfully. "Does he know what happens to the people you swallow?"

Gluttony sort of…giggled. "I'm sure he does! Father knows everything!"

There was that strange childishness again, the sense that Gluttony was almost a little kid. It was unsettling, really, to see something so…dangerous acting like a child. "So he…made you like this?" Lissa edged. "He manufactured your ability to—to swallow things like that?"

He bobbed his head. "Father can make anything! He made all of us, he did! He made me, and Lust—and he made Envy!"

Lissa gritted her teeth at the thought of Envy. She was beginning to blame them for what had happened to Ed, and to Ling. Maybe fighting Gluttony when he was powered up would've been difficult…but it was Envy's interference that caused everything to go south. She reached down and tugged at her gloves, fingers restless with the thought of having a rematch with them, getting to unleash all her anger and frustration and-

"Oh, _Al_ ," Lissa choked, stumbling to a halt as her fingers landed on a thin strip of red elastic. "I—it's Ed's hair tie," she breathed, lifting her hand. Sure enough, she still had his usual red hair tie around her wrist, from when she'd cleaned that cut on his forehead in the hotel room.

Al squeezed her shoulder. "You can give it back to him when we see him again," he told her gently.

Lissa bit her lip to withhold a stupid rush of tears. Crying over a _hair tie_ … How pathetic was she?

Finally, Gluttony came to a stop in front of an oversized set of double doors, set into the wall with a yellow light above them, just a regular old maintenance light. It was as if…this had been built _into_ Central with everything else. The thought chilled Lissa. No transmutation marks, signs of aging, nothing to indicate this place was new or had been added later… It was just…part of the foundations.

"So this is it?" Al breathed. "Your father's on the other side?"

Gluttony nodded. "Mmhmm, that's right!"

Lissa clenched her fists tightly. Time to face this fucker. "He's gonna be really happy with you, Gluttony," she told the homunculus. "Go ahead and let us in, okay?"

He grinned at her. "Okay!"

Gluttony pushed the doors open, and Lissa stepped in beside Al, emerging into an enormous chamber, with a high ceiling shrouded in darkness, and every wall just bursting with cables, stringing in through the concrete itself, like the center of a giant organism. She'd never felt so damned unsettled in all her life, her whole neck and shoulders practically aching with the strain of repressing her senses. But she knew if she let it loose, she'd be totally useless—and that just wasn't an option.

"This place couldn't get any creepier, huh?" Al noted quietly.

Lissa shook her head. "I don't think it could."

Ahead of them, Gluttony bobbed to a stop and waved his hands excitedly in the air. "Hello, father!" he practically sang. "I brought you two human sacrifices!"

 _Wait…he's here?! Right now?!_

Lissa grabbed onto Al's forearm as she looked around, frantic, unsure where the hell this guy was. What would he _look_ like? Would he be normal, like Bradley, or something _else_ , like Gluttony?

"Your father?" Al's voice was almost a squeak. "Where?! This is happening too fast!"

Her senses yanking at her fiercely, Lissa found her gaze drawn to the wall just in front of them, where a stone staircase led upwards into darkness. And on the ledge there, she saw something… _moving_ , approaching them.

"And who is this?" a low male voice asked.

The man—the homunculi's father—stepped forward, into the eerie white light emanating from the top of the chamber.

Al breathed one word. " _Dad_?"

Lissa felt a wave of anger, first—then the chill of fear as she pieced it together. This man…he looked like _Hohenheim_ , right down to his facial hair. But Hohenheim… She'd met him, she'd _sensed_ him, and he did _not_ feel evil like this. If she'd sensed this pure hell off him in Resembool, she never would've let him near Ed or Pinako. Hohenheim felt similar to a Philosopher's Stone, yes, a slimy-blood-sick feeling she despised… But this…

"No," Lissa told him lowly. "This isn't your father, Al." She stepped forward, arms out in preparation for a fight, and placed herself between him and Alphonse. "I've met your father. And this…doesn't feel anything like him."

Al reeled back in shock. "But—then who-"

Something… _squished_ beside them. There was no other term for it. Lissa dared look away from the man in white, Hohenheim's duplicate, to see Gluttony's body roiling, blood gushing down from the center of his abdomen, exactly where the portal had opened before. The homunculus screamed and flailed as the portal _did_ open, forced itself wide, the eye blinking open and then rending in two. Red energy crackled around the split, blood spewing from Gluttony's mouth as a giant green _arm_ surged outward from the portal.

Lissa rammed her palms together, borrowing Ed and Al's pose, compressing the air directly around her and using it as a boost to shove herself and Al back as another arm wrenched free, expanding right out of Gluttony's center.

"The hell is going on?!" she yelled, keeping one arm stretched out in front of Al, determined to protect him.

"It looks like—something's coming out of him!" He turned to her for a moment, panicked. "Lissa! You don't think—it could be…"

A massive creature broke free of Gluttony's stomach, a sick green color, horribly mutated and grotesque with faces all around its neck and shoulders, one eye bearing a single iris of a deep purple shade, and the other several irises, all flesh-colored and cut with slit pupils. It was… _horrifying_. And that thing had been inside Gluttony?!

Its long tail landed hard just at Lissa's feet, and she stared down at in disgust. It looked slimy, almost reptilian but…more like…a mockery of human flesh, somehow, when she looked at it more closely.

"Envy?" the Hohenheim lookalike asked, peering down as well.

Al whirled to him in confusion. "Envy?! _That_ thing?!"

"No way," Lissa breathed. "This gross thing is supposed to be Envy?"

One of the moaning faces on Envy's neck reached forward, arms and a torso expanding, stretching from the green flesh, and Lissa recoiled in disgust, casting her gaze further along Envy's horrific form.

 _That's…wait, is that a leg?_

Lissa's chest seized, her breath stilling in her lungs. " _EDWARD!_ " The word scraped past her throat as she raced forward, hearing Al's echoing shout of _BROTHER_ seconds after hers. She tripped and stumbled over cables as she flung herself past Envy's mass to the slumped form of Edward Elric, collapsed limply among the half-formed creatures roiling out from the homunculus.

Al was faster, reaching Ed first and kneeling down, yanking the stringing bits of flesh off him. For a horrible, soul-wrenching moment, he didn't move… Then those beautiful golden eyes fluttered open and Lissa let out a rough, dry sob. _Ed._ He was alive!

"Al?" he murmured, squinting in the gloom. "You're back in your armor… S-so that means…"

Beside Ed, Ling rose from Envy's body with a groan, reaching up a shaking fist to bump it against Ed's automail one. "We're back in the real world."

"Guess so," Ed agreed, smirking.

"BROTHER!" Al shrieked, suddenly grabbing Ed and lifting him bodily off the floor, crushing him against his armor. Ed yelped and flailed, complaining about his ribs and how much it hurt, but it was all halfhearted.

Overwhelmed, Lissa dropped to the floor and covered her mouth, repressing her sobs as Al finally released Ed and sank onto his knees, shivering, admitting the truth of his fears—that he'd thought Edward was _dead_. They both had, though they'd been too afraid to voice it, as though giving substance to the thought could make it true. Lissa knew that.

"Hey." A hand entered her vision, and she looked up through her tears to see Ling smiling at her. She took his hand and pulled to her feet, trying to blink away the tears clouding her vision. "Go on," he urged her quietly.

She shook her head. "N-no… This is… They need time."

Something darker crossed Ling's face. "And Ed needs _you_. Trust me. You didn't see what I saw, Lissa. Go."

When she didn't move, he prodded his hand flat between her shoulderblades and pushed her forward, forcing her towards the boys. Lissa just let the momentum carry her, watching as Ed placed his hand atop Al's helmet and apologized, softly, for making him worry. Then his gaze lifted, maybe drawn by the soft scuffing of her boots on the concrete—and he turned as Lissa collapsed just a couple feet away, no longer able to support herself. "Y-you're okay," she whispered, her voice fraught with tears, rough from the sobs she was holding back. "We were s-so…so worried, Ed…"

He lurched forward, and Lissa found herself caught up in Ed's arms, pressed tight into his chest, feeling his face tuck into her shoulder as he pulled her into him. "I'm okay, Liss," he breathed. "I'm okay, I promise…"

Lissa clung to him and finally, finally _sobbed_ , let all of the fear and pain and loss crash down over her head as she cried into his shoulder.

But suddenly she pulled back and smacked his arm, through her tears, making him stare at her with wide eyes. "Don't you _ever_ pull that shit again, you hear me?" she told him fiercely. "Next time you get yourself sucked in somewhere terrible at _least_ take me and Al with you, dummy!" Then she grabbed him again and pulled him into her chest this time, heedless of the pain, tucking his head beneath her chin and kissing his hair. She could feel his laughter rumbling against her chest.

"Okay, Liss," he acquiesced, leaning back to brush a strand of loose hair from her face. "Next time we'll all get trapped together."

Ed stood up and peered around, absently tugging Lissa up beside him and resting his automail hand at the small of her back. She could've burst out crying all over again in that moment. "Where exactly did we wind up, though?" he wondered aloud.

"This is somewhat surprising," observed that same low voice—the homunculi's father. "People emerging from his stomach."

As he approached, two fingers resting thoughtfully on his chin, Ed recoiled and jerked away from him, pulling Lissa with him and forcing Al to step back as well. Rage burned in his eyes as he took in the man's appearance. "What the— _Hohenheim_?!" Ed snarled.

Lissa shook her head, grimacing. "It's not him, Ed. They feel different."

He gritted his teeth. "Then who the hell is he?"

The man continued on his way, regarding the three with a certain detached curiosity. "Steel appendages, hm… And an armored body…" His gaze drifted sideways as he thought. Then suddenly he stepped forward, lightning fast, and tipped his head right into Ed's personal space. "Are you two the Elric brothers?" He did the same to Lissa, making her cringe away as he scrutinized her. "And that would make you Lissa Caito, yes?"

Ed's hand rested firmly on Lissa's shoulder, protective. "So—wait, he's not…"

The white-robed man eyed him with mild interest. "Have you mistaken me for someone else? Well, hold on…" He stood straight again, mercifully putting some distance between them. "Hohen… The name you said." _…And back in our damned faces again! What a creep!_ "By any chance, do you mean Van Hohenheim? And how is it the three of you are acquainted with him?"

"Well, he's mine and Ed's father," Al explained hesitantly.

The man gazed between Ed and Al thoughtfully for a moment—then he moved, at that eerie super-speed again, and literally _grabbed_ Edward's head between his hands, twisting him this way and that as he scrutinized Ed's face. "He's your _father_?" he demanded. "This is indeed surprising! I had no idea he had children." He gave a laugh and patted the top of Edward's head, earning a sharp glare at the gesture.

Lissa reached out and closed her hand around Ed's, squeezing tight. They couldn't risk pissing this guy off yet… If Ed got too angry…

"If you are indeed his progeny, then why is it that your family name is _Elric_?" the man asked curiously.

Ed snarled and threw off his grasp. "Elric is our mother's last name!" he snapped.

The man was unperturbed by the sharpness, though. "Oh, is that so?" He raised his eyebrows slightly. "So, where has he been spending his time?"

"Who cares?" Ed demanded harshly. He never took _anything_ to do with his father well—and especially not facing somebody who looked exactly like Hohenheim. "Just forget him! Who the hell are _you_?! And why do you look exactly like him?!"

 _Tactful._

But yet again, the man just…didn't seem to care. "I know that he can't be dead," he mused, turning away slightly, entirely in his own thoughts.

Ed gaped at him. "Wha—hey! Listen to me!"

"But to think that he…"

Lissa wrinkled her nose. He might not be Hohenheim—but he had about as much regard for Ed as Hohenheim did.

Al leaned in to cut across Ed's rage, reaching down to take his arm and get his attention. "Brother! This guy's the one who-"

But Ed yelped in sudden pain, and Al recoiled, shocked. "Are you okay?!"

Lissa turned to him and caught Ed's upper arm, just now managing to spot the makeshift brace on his left forearm. "Did you break your arm?" she asked him softly, worried sick now. His arm hadn't been broken when he went into Gluttony… So what the hell had happened to him? Had Envy hurt him? Just another damn reason she wanted to destroy that homunculus…

"It would appear that you're injured," the homunculi's father observed, looking at Edward. "And your armor has sustained structural damage as well." That was to Al, who definitely had a few holes and lacerations leftover from the fight against Gluttony. The man approached Al, too fast to stop, and pressed his hand to Al's forearm. With a burst of bright red energy, all the damage just… _mended_ , holes knitting together and scratches closing up. "There. How is that for you?" he asked, almost pleasantly.

Lissa took a step back in shock. How had he _done_ that?!

But he wasn't finished. He took Ed's wrist and pulled him out by his injured arm, making Ed wince and hiss in pain. "Your arm's broken," he mused. He pressed a hand to Ed's forearm—and that same red energy crackled through the air.

When he let go, Ed jerked back and pulled his arm in, only to stare at it in shock. "It…it's not broken anymore," he realized, ripping the brace off and squeezing his hand experimentally.

The homunculi's father stepped forward and grabbed Ed's shoulders, beginning a sort of exploratory motion down his arms and torso, too strong for Ed to just throw him off, though he protested the treatment. "A few broken ribs as well," he continued—and with another burst of red energy, he'd handled that too.

Lissa could only stare. He was…able to heal injuries with just a touch? And mend Al's armor too? What the hell _was_ he?

"And how about you?"

She squeaked and recoiled as he came for her next, pressing his hands to either side of her neck and working downwards quickly and efficiently. "Cracked collarbone…" Red sparks flew out as he rested his hands on her shoulders. "And several ribs, too." More red sparks, and the pain in Lissa's chest ebbed away all at once. When he released her, she stumbled back into Ed's arms, feeling raw and violated even though he'd technically _healed_ her. Ed closed his arms around her and held her tight into him without hesitation, and some of the discomfort melted away just at his touch.

"I consider the three of you to be vital resources," the man told them stoically. "You must all remain alive and healthy."

 _So it really is me too… Not just the boys… But why? Why us?_

"This isn't right," Ed muttered. "He performed a transmutation without any movement at all."

"And he didn't even thin out my armor," Al pointed out anxiously. "There isn't any Equivalent Exchange!"

Speaking up for the first time in all this, Ling stepped forward and shot an accusation at the man. "You aren't human," he snapped, brandishing his sword. "What are you?! What the hell's inside you?!" So he was feeling the same thing Lissa had on her way in—that sick, bottomless evil resting inside this man.

The homunculi's father regarded him imperiously. "I would ask who you are, but I honestly don't care," he intoned. "You can go ahead and eat him." The latter was directed at Gluttony, who had recovered from his stomach splitting open earlier.

"Okay!" Gluttony cheered.

"What?! No, hold on!" Ed shouted. In the same mindset, he, Lissa, and Al rushed over to place themselves between Ling and Gluttony. "This guy's our friend! And you wanna keep us happy, right?" he demanded, looking for an easy way to save Ling from the homunculi. "So don't kill him! Please!"

Yet the man was unaffected, merely turning and walking away. "But I have no need for him. Your friendship doesn't make him any less useless to me."

Ed glowered at his retreating back. "What did you say?!"

"Brother, the homunculi keep calling this guy their father," Al explained quickly. "We think he's the one who created them."

"That's why we ended up here," Lissa added. "We were trying to find answers."

"Their _father_?" Ed's face contorted, the very idea disgusting to him.

Al nodded quickly. "He did heal our wounds, though…"

"He didn't heal mine," Ling pointed out, limping forward—he was still in bad shape from whatever happened inside Gluttony's stomach. So…only sacrifices were worthy of healing? "I don't like him," Ling continued sharply, his voice labored but clear. "I can tell he looks down on humans and calls us fools."

The man turned and gave him an impassible look. "When you notice an insect on the ground, do you stop and consider it a fool?" _The hell?!_ "The life of an insect is so beneath you that it would be a waste of your time to even _consider_ judging it. That would be an accurate summation on my feelings towards you humans."

Apparently, that was enough for Ed. He clapped his hands together and pressed them to the floor, sending an attack hurtling straight towards the man—but without so much as a single gesture from him, a wall sprang up and blocked the attack.

"Look, you might've healed our wounds but that does _not_ mean we're friends!" Ed yelled, undeterred. "It's pretty apparent that you're the root of all this evil! I'm taking you down! I don't care how many cronies you've got!"

Lissa wasn't really sure about the sanity of just…attacking this guy outright. But she was going to back Ed up no matter what.

Across the room, sitting up on his haunches, the giant lizard form of Envy scoffed. "And just who are you callin' a _crony_ , pipsqueak?"

 _Oh, dammit._

" _PIPSQUEAK?!_ "

Ed brought his hands together and pressed down on one of the many pipes snaking through the chamber, sending a twisting mass of them right at Envy—but at the last second, Lissa felt the air shift, and watched with a certain sense of pride as the attack veered left, around the homunculus, instead changing trajectories and wrapping around the white-robed man.

"Got ya now, boss man!" Ed jeered triumphantly.

But without a gesture, without even _moving_ , the homunculi's father simply destroyed the binds holding him in place.

The air shifted above their heads, a massive disturbance, and Lissa cried out, "Move!"

Thankfully the boys listened—for just a split second later, Envy's giant lizard hand came crashing down where they'd all been standing. Lissa opened her senses enough to keep track of Ling, Ed, and Al, as she twisted her hands and parted the air, dodging directly underneath Envy to reach this…this _Father_ guy. Ed was right, they needed to take him out. Would they get another opportunity like this one? With four people _right here_ to go after him?

They couldn't risk missing the chance.

Lissa narrowly skirted by a wall that shot up in front of her—only to ram into yet another one with her shoulder as she twisted sideways. Stone shot out from the middle of the wall, a giant pillar, and sent her flying back to land next to Al. "Damn that guy!" she hissed, rubbing her sore shoulder and glaring across at him. He'd sent Ed and Ling flying as well, both of whom had tried to get up close with him too.

"What's going on here? How does he do that?!" Al reached out and pulled Lissa up beside him, staring anxiously across at Father.

Ed pushed up on his hands and knees where he'd fallen nearby, dislodging the few stones resting on his back. "It's like he can transmute just by thinking about it!"

Across the chamber, Father sighed wearily. "This is a waste of time," he lamented. He pressed his foot firmly on the ground—and a wave of red energy rushed out from him, transmutic energy crackling out the very top of his head, the whole room lighting up a blinding, sick red color.

Lissa shrieked as it ripped through her, resonating somewhere deep inside. She sank to her knees and pressed her forehead to the ground, unable to support herself, her entire body trembling. _What…what the hell is he doing?! What's going on?!_ She felt something warm press over her—and the sense of that awful wave of energy was eclipsed by amber, and warmth like a burst of sunlight… _Ed…_ She bared her teeth as she forced the sensation down, sitting upright with Ed's arms tightly around her, holding together against the cascade of energy.

When it faded, Lissa tuned into Ed trembling against her, affected horribly by it too. She fisted her hand in his shirt and held tight to him, just for a moment, before sitting back and releasing him. This fight wasn't over.

Ed and Al brought their hands together as Lissa reached out for the particles around her. Maybe if she used the ambient air, she could trip him up… It wasn't a common attack, after all, and maybe her alchemy was unique enough to make a difference…

The boys pressed their hands against the ground, and Lissa clenched her fist, trying to compress the air around Father to knock him back…

But nothing happened.

Blue crackled along Lissa's knuckles, repairing a tiny scrape she'd sustained during the battle.

 _Did I just heal myself?!_

"What's going on?!" she heard the boys gasp beside her.

Lissa didn't have time to call out a warning this time as Envy rammed their creepy clawed hands down, pressing Ed, Al, and Lissa into the ground and pinning them securely. She heard Ling yell their names from nearby, panicked, but there was no air in her lungs left to call back, to warn him as he leapt up and ran for them—only to be snagged by Gluttony and thrown down to the ground, pinned by the homunculus's mass.

"What the hell did he do to us?!" Ed yelled, twisting and trying to free himself, but to no avail.

Al stared down at his own hands in utter bewilderment. "I don't know! Why can't we use our alchemy?!"

Lissa could see her own hand, the rip in her glove where something had snagged her—but that miniscule cut was _gone_. In the same moment Ed and Al's alchemy had been cut off…hers had changed, shifted somehow. Never in her damned life had she healed something, or even tried to. And she'd been trying to _attack_ , not heal a stupid cut! What the hell?!

Above their heads, Envy cackled like this was the _funniest_ thing ever. "You lower lifeforms never cease to amuse me! You get a speck of power and you think you own the world!" They lowered their head to grin at the pinned alchemists. "And you don't even know what that power _is_." They laughed, a gross, mocking sound. "And then you have the arrogance to assume that you're the one who's in control of this power! You're like a bad joke that keeps getting dumber."

Ed glowered up at him, heedless of the fact that they were all at this mutated creature's mercy. "What are you bastards planning?" he demanded. "You promised to tell me everything if I got you out!"

Envy looked down at him with a sort of…reptilian smirk. "Huh? Why, I would _never_ stoop so low as to make a deal with a worm like you."

"Liar!" Ed snarled, enraged.

Across the room, Father let out a sort of exasperated sigh. "You talk far too much, Envy."

Like a guilty child, Envy hunched their shoulders and muttered, "Oh, sorry."

Father's gaze swept the room, as though considering his next move—and alighted on Ling with a sudden interest that made Lissa's stomach curl unpleasantly. "You may prove to be rather useful to me after all," he mused. "I could always use a new pawn in the rotation."

Ed flinched. "A pawn?!"

"Don't you touch him!" Lissa shouted, angry. What was this guy going to do to Ling?!

As they watched, Father tapped his own forehead—his flesh parted to reveal an _eyeball_ there, a horrific sight, with a purple iris and a round, all-too human pupil. Blood welled at the bottom corner of the eye, just above the man's eyebrows, and Lissa felt a wave of copper-iron sludge as the blood began to glow from within.

 _That…isn't blood…_

"Is that…a Philosopher's Stone?!" Al gasped, piecing it together.

Ling stared up at it with narrowed eyes. "A what?!"

Envy looked at Father curiously. "You're really gonna do that?" they asked.

"Do what?!" Ed demanded of him.

For once, Envy felt sharing, apparently. "He's going to make a new homunculus," they explained easily. "The stone is added into the bloodstream. If it's able to merge, then a human-based homunculus is created."

 _Dammit, not Ling!_

"But it's more common for the stone to overpower the subject and kill them," Envy finished smugly.

Lissa thrashed underneath their foreleg. "No! Leave him alone!"

Beside her, Ed was doing the same, struggling to free himself desperately. "I'm not gonna let you do this to him!" She heard him press his hands together, yet again attempting to use alchemy—but nothing happened. "What is this?! What's going on?! Why the hell aren't we able to transmute?!"

Al tried the very same thing, ramming his hands against the ground, yet nothing happened.

Frantic now, Lissa twisted her hands and tried to summon metal from the air—and caught a glimpse of a scratch across Ed's cheek healing, just the smallest glimmer of blue transmutation energy. _It happened again!_

"You bearded bastard!" Ed yelled, unaware of what she'd done. "Let him go! He's got people waiting for him to come back!" He shifted angrily on the ground. "Get off of me!"

Lissa heard a click, and turned to see Ed had yanked Riza's gun out of the back of his trousers, and turned to point it up at Envy—but one of those horrific faces twisted into existence behind him, _tears_ pouring from its hollow, dark eyes. Ed froze with his gaze fixated on the miserable thing.

"Can you really shoot such a sad face?" Envy mocked cruelly. "Can you, boy?"

A tremor ran through Ed's body. "Damn you…"

"Don't shoot, Ed!" Ling's voice rang out.

Lissa jerked her head around to stare at him. Surely she hadn't heard him right, surely!

But Ling pointed a finger in Ed's direction, his gaze fierce. "This is exactly what I want! So you just stay out of it!"

"Are you serious?!" Ed demanded, stunned.

"I came to your land to find a Philosopher's Stone—and now this guy wants to _give_ me one! I'm not gonna turn this down!" Ling asserted, without a drop of hesitation.

Lissa recoiled in horror. "Ling, you can't! That stone might kill you!"

"Think about what you're doing!" Ed yelled, through clenched teeth, just as stricken.

Standing over Ling, Father gave him a rather surprised look. "Well, now this is new," he admitted. "But we'll see if your body is as willing as your mind." And with that, he tipped his hand out and let the Philosopher's Stone fall, dripping through the air to land on an exposed cut on Ling's face.

"No, don't!" Ed screamed.

But it was too late. The stone landed, stuck to his skin—and then slipped right in through the cut.

Ling's whole body jolted, his veins warping as the stone entered him, and he yelled out in pain. Red energy crackled all around him as the stone took hold, ripping through his system like a damned virus, totally unstoppable now.

"Ling, no!" Lissa shrieked, shoving hard against Envy's disgusting, heavy hand.

"I told you…to keep out of this!" Ling yelled across at her, still in the throes of agony. "Don't you dare interfere!"

Ed let out a frustrated cry. "Dammit, we can't just-"

"Stay back!" Ling warned. "I promise that I know what I'm doing!" Despite the pain, despite the energy crackling from his body, the snaps of bones breaking…Ling _grinned_ at them. "They're dealing with the future leader of Xing… Ling Yao…" His body heaved, he spat blood—then he reared back on his knees and _screamed_.*

Then, as quickly as it had started, the energy faded out, the red bursts slowing and then stopping. Ling hung there, suspended backwards over his own legs for a moment, before he rolled forward and pressed a hand to his face.

"Ling?" Ed breathed.

Lissa reached out, tapped into her senses…and recoiled into herself with a jolt. "No," she gasped, her breath coming in short, panicked gasps. "It's…it's…" _But it can't be, it can't…_

"What? Oh." Ling rubbed the back of his head and eyed them curiously. His voice was different—deeper, missing that signature accent of his. "You mean the guy I took this body from?" A grin spread over his face, contorted, unlike Ling's own expressions. "Sorry. But your friend just checked out and left Greed this body." As he spoke, he unraveled the bandages covering his left hand…revealing a crimson ouroboros tattoo.

Al's voice came out tremulous and scared. "S-so… You're not Ling?"

"Did he say _Greed_?" Ed's gaze flicked between Ling's body and Lissa, no doubt searching to see if she'd sensed it. "Liss, is that—is that _right_? He's Greed?"

"He feels like a homunculus," she whispered. "The same…same feeling from all of them…"

"So then…" Ed stared up at Ling's stolen body. "Are you…the Greed from before?"

Greed stood up and crossed to crouch before them, head tipped to one side curiously. "Huh? What are you talkin' about?" he asked.

Ed furrowed his brow. "You don't remember us?"

"From Dublith?" Al prompted, almost hopefully.

But Greed just shrugged faintly. "You must've met some different Greed."

So…not the same one, then. Lissa wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing—though the Greed in Dublith had been operating separately from the homunculi… Maybe it would've been helpful to have this one against them too…

"He was my avarice before you," Father explained, inclining his head.

"Ah. I gotcha. That makes sense." Greed rubbed at the back of his neck. "But if you wanna hear it from me, no, I'm not the Greed you knew. I'm a whole new version."

 _No hope there, then._

Ed sucked in a breath. "But…Ling…"

Greed smirked and rose to his full height again. "Well, he was an interesting kid. He gave up his body without any fight at all."

"You're lying!" Ed denied immediately, rushing headfirst into anger. "Ling would never give up and surrender himself so easily! Answer me, Ling! _Ling!_ "

"He said he wanted this," Lissa realized, feeling sick. "Ed… He told us not to interfere…"

Ed gritted his teeth. " _No_. He can't be gone!"

 _Rotten…fruit… Why am I sensing chimeras again? And sand?!_

Something growled lowly at the back of the chamber. Lissa pushed past Father's horrible presence to feel it out, craning her neck to try and see—just as the lion-based chimera which had padded in _exploded_ with blood and crumpled to the floor. As its body fell, it revealed a figure standing impassible in the doorway. A familiar face…with red eyes and an x-shaped scar.

And…a little girl at his side?!

Scar and that tiny Xingese girl from the railyard!

Suddenly the little panda Al had been carrying leapt from hiding and sprinted across the chamber, jumping right into the Xingese girl's arms. "It's Xiao Mei!" she squealed, cuddling the panda close. "Oh, thank goodness! You're okay! I've been so worried about you!"

Greed clapped mockingly. "Oh, now that is a touching reunion right there."

Lissa forced her shoulder further back, against Envy's mass, trying to see better. The hell was Scar doing here? How had he even found his way in? And gotten past the damned gatekeepers, that mass of chimeras?!

"So, the armored boy isn't with the homunculi after all," Scar murmured, his gaze severe. "They've also got Fullmetal and Starlight."

The little girl stepped forward eagerly, eyes darting around the chamber. "Where is he?" she asked Scar curiously. "Where is Mr. Edward?"

Scar pointed directly at Ed. "He's right there."

 _Why…is she so interested in Ed?_

The girl looked around excitedly—but then her face fell and she glared up at Scar. "He's not really here, is he?" she accused.

"I told you, that's him right there," Scar insisted. "That little guy is the Fullmetal Alchemist."

Something…came over that little girl—she stood there shaking for a moment, hands clenched at her sides, staring at Ed like he'd crushed her hopes and dreams… Then she shrieked, "How _dare_ you toy with the feelings of a maiden, you human microbe?!"

"What'd you call me, micro-girl?!" Ed yelled back.

Lissa kicked out at his leg, making him wince and look at her. "What did you do, Ed?" she asked him lowly. "The hell is she talking about?!"

He waved his hands frantically at her. "I have no idea, Liss! I don't even know who the hell this girl is! I didn't do _anything_!"

"You better not have," she grumbled.

Suddenly, with a gleeful shout, Gluttony leapt forward to attack Scar. Lissa wondered if they were about to see the Ishvalan get eaten—alchemy was going haywire, he didn't have a real way to defend himself, and he was just out in the open…

Scar moved, terrifyingly fast as always, and rammed the palm of his hand into Gluttony's face.

Blue energy crackled around the homunculus as Scar's alchemy activated, sending Gluttony flying, blood spraying from his skin.

 _What?!_

"You'll pay for this!" the girl shrieked, still raging at Edward. "You deceived an innocent girl—and you kidnapped Xiao Mei!" She flung her arms out, releasing a series of kunai just like at the railyard, one set landing below Envy and the other landing at her feet. "You'll suffer for what you've done! _All of you!_ "

Blue transmutic energy flared from her array—and a giant stone fist rushed out of the ground and slammed into Envy's underside.

Lissa rolled with the explosion, landing on her feet beside Ed and Al, ready for a fight. If _their_ alchemy worked, that meant whatever Father did was over! She yanked off her gloves and stuffed them into her pocket, raising her arms and preparing to fight.

"'Bout time!" Ed cheered, grinning. He and Al clapped their hands and pressed their palms to the ground…and yet again, nothing fucking happened.

"Oh, dammit! Really?!" Lissa grabbed both boys' arms and hauled them up as Envy reared back to their feet, readying for an attack—and with no other options, the three alchemists took off running, looking for safer ground within the chamber.

"It still isn't working!" Al complained, sounding really frustrated now.

Ed's face contorted in anger. "But why is theirs?!" He caught Lissa's arm and pulled her with him as he veered right. "Here! Get down!" She let him pull her, not even arguing when he pressed her into the half-destroyed transmuted wall he'd found as shelter, resting his arm over her with his palm flat against the stone, protective even though he was panting hard and clearly exhausted.

"This doesn't make any sense," Al pointed out, crouching beside them. "How can they still transmute?"

"I don't know," Ed admitted wearily. "I have _no_ idea." He rested his hand on Al's shoulder and stared across the room, to where Scar was facing down the homunculi. "But I think this is our chance to turn things around."

Lissa felt him shift and stood up, catching his wrist and holding him back. "Ed, wait," she breathed. He let her stop him, though he easily could've pulled past her, and stood looking at her with this open, trusting gaze. She couldn't fathom what she'd done to deserve him, she really couldn't, but she'd be damned if she just let him go running off like that again. Lissa released his wrist and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him into her. She caught a glimpse of his startled face before she closed her eyes and kissed him, hard, one hand resting at the back of his neck, holding him in tight. Ed wrapped his arms around her and traced his left hand along her hip, soothing, but with enough pressure to let her know he was just as strung out as she was.

She released him and took his face between her hands. "Be safe," she whispered.

Ed nodded once, firmly—then he took off running out into the open.

 _One day I won't have to watch that boy go off without me,_ she swore to herself, touching her finger to his hair tie, still wrapped around her wrist. _One day._

"Scar!" Ed shouted, drawing everyone's attention to him.

Al's hand pressed into Lissa's back. She looked up at him, stunned, confused—but then she understood. "Let's go."

And they raced off after Ed, taking up fighting positions to either side of him. Al had the right idea. Why did they have to stand back while Ed put himself at risk, while he took on everything himself? _No._ No fucking more!

Ed squared his shoulders and pointed at Scar fiercely. "You wanna know the truth about what started the war in Ishval?" he demanded loudly.

Scar's eyes narrowed. "In Ishval?"

"The truth about who shot that child and started the uprising?" Ed continued. Lissa had no idea what he was talking about, not a single damned clue—did he know something else? What the hell had he learned down in Gluttony's stomach?

Ed flung his arm wide, jabbing an accusatory finger at Envy's hulking mass. "They're standing right there! It was _Envy_ , disguised as a soldier! These guys orchestrated the entire war!"

They'd…done what?!

Lissa glanced sideways at Al, stunned. Was Ed right?! Had _Envy_ started the entire Ishvalan Civil War? _They'd_ caused all those deaths? That meant…that meant Envy was responsible for her parents' deaths! For Lissa becoming an orphan!

Scar stared down the homunculi, waiting for them to deny it…but the denial never came. "I'd like to hear more details about this," he told them, in a deadly voice. "In between your screaming."

Gluttony wavered back to life behind him—only to meet Scar's hand once again, flying backward in a burst of blood. The little Xingese girl, who had been practically glued to the Ishvalan's side, looked up at him fearfully and backed away.

"Now tell me, for what purpose did you choose to slaughter all of my people?" Scar's voice was _horrible_ , like death itself incarnate. "Depending on your answer… I'll send you to join God!" But then, with blue energy crackling all around him, he snarled, " _No!_ You don't deserve to stand by God alongside my fallen brothers! Your only solace from my wrath will be damnation!"

Scar slammed his hand into the ground—and the whole floor of the chamber ripped upward, ruined in a single gesture. For a moment, everything was suspended as homunculi and alchemists alike went flying…

Then Lissa rammed into the ground, and chaos erupted around her.

"Lissa!"

It was Al, pulling a hunk of pipe off her and hauling her to her feet. "Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!"

Lissa touched her abdomen lightly, wincing. "I…yeah, I'm…" She swallowed. "Broke my ribs again. Shit." An image flashed in her mind—the cut on her hand, closing with a little zip of blue energy. And the scratch on Ed's face… "But…my alchemy is doing strange things. Maybe I can…" Lissa summoned up her strength, focused on the feeling of knitting together particles from the air around her—like the flower she'd made for Winry—and pressed her hands to her own chest.

She gasped as something cracked inside of her, overwhelmed with agony for a moment…but then the pain faded.

"What did you _do_?" Al breathed, staring at her in shock. "You—your alchemy worked!"

Lissa shook her head. "N-no, it's not… It's acting weird, every time I've tried to use my normal alchemy I keep—fucking _healing_ things. It's useful for something, I guess." She gritted her teeth. "There's no time, Al." Focusing, she pointed out into the chamber, where three separate fights seemed to be occurring—Scar fighting Father, Ed chasing down Greed, and Gluttony on the heels of that little Xingese girl.

"I'll get Gluttony!" Al called.

"And I'll go after Greed!" Lissa bumped her fist on the side of his armor. "Watch yourself, little brother!"

Al tapped her shoulder in return. "You too, big sister!"

Lissa grinned tightly and raced off, ducking underneath the debris, using her size to her advantage to cut the quickest path to where Ed and Greed were fighting. Al would be all right—Gluttony couldn't hurt Al, he wasn't allowed, and Greed could only do so much damage to her and Ed. Besides…she'd fought that sexist pig before, and _won_.

Though…she did have her alchemy then… It wouldn't be so straightforward this time.

She slid beneath a slab of concrete and watched as Ed and Greed leapt overhead, sensing the shifts in the air, tracking their movements—Greed was using that Ultimate Shield of his, which felt different to Ed's automail… So she could tell them apart. _At least that part of my alchemy isn't shut down. Small mercies._

Lissa lunged out and sprang off a tilted piece of concrete, ramming feet-first into Greed's back and stumbling him. "Need a hand?" she asked Ed, settling into a fighting stance beside him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Was that a joke?"

"Not at the moment, no."

Greed stood up and eyed them, his judgmental gaze sitting oddly on Ling's features. "Aw, man. Y'know, I really don't like fighting women."

Lissa gritted her teeth. "The last Greed said that too. I ended up putting a couple spikes through his throat."

"Feisty," he noted. "But you don't have your alchemy, little girl."

She felt his weight shift as he prepared for an attack—and stepped in, ducking under his guard to ram her elbow into his solar plexus. "I think I'll be just fine!" she snarled as he reeled, not expecting the risky tactic. _Thank you for keeping your damn stomach exposed, Ling. I knew his shield wasn't there!_

Ed rushed in next, joining the fight as Greed expanded his shield, not questioning Lissa's help for a moment. They fought together, switching sides, trying to keep the homunculus between them at all times. He was just so damned fast, and Lissa couldn't boost her speed to get around him. And to make matters worse, he learned their tactics in seconds, so she'd _never_ be able to use that trick again. Fighting a homunculus without alchemy…and one wearing their friend's skin, too!

"We have to get to Ling!" Lissa shouted, as she sprang off a useless attack against Greed's spine.

Ed rushed in then, using Lissa's tactic, trying to land a lucky hit with his automail—but Greed blocked it easily. "You idiot prince!" Ed snarled into his face. "Wake _up_ , Ling!"

"The name's _Greed_ ," the homunculus insisted.

But Ed refused to back down. "Shut up! Give Ling his body back!"

"Sorry, can't do that!" Greed jolted, ramming his head right into Ed's chest to knock him back. Lissa darted behind him as Ed twisted around Greed's front, using his shoulders as leverage, and swept her leg out to try and knock Greed's legs out from under him. Ed rammed a kick into the homunculus's chest at the same time, and he went down _hard_ , landing solidly on his back.

Ed stood over him and glowered down. "Give up already, you idiot!" he snapped. He reared back and aimed a punch with his automail fist, swinging his whole body into it—one Greed caught in a shielded hand, just barely. They'd stunned the homunculus for sure, taking him down that way. Now they just had to finish it. "What about your country?" Ed demanded, still reaching for Ling. "Have you forgotten all about Lan Fan?!"

Greed flinched. Ed rammed his left fist down—and Lissa saw the punch _land_ , squarely into Greed's cheek.

 _But…he had to have seen that coming! Did Ed get through to Ling?!_

An arm snaked around her—Lissa shrieked in surprise as her arms were twisted behind her, pinned in one hand, and Father brought his arm across her neck, squeezing just tight enough to be a threat. "That's quite enough," he admonished.

Ed spun to her in horror. "Lissa! Let her go!"

"Ed, look out!" she screamed. But he'd sat up from Greed and left his back open too long. The homunculus lunged upward and twisted his legs around Ed, dragging him down into a fighting hold with his left arm held in both hands and his heels poised to dig into Ed's throat.

"Caught 'im for ya, pops," Greed told Father brightly.

Father gave a solemn nod. "Upstairs. I want them taken directly to Wrath."

Lissa caught Ed's gaze, both prepared to free themselves and continue the fight… But then Envy walked back in the open doorway, Al clenched in one hand, and all the fight went out of them. Neither would risk Al's safety like that.

 _Damn. They got us._

"Man. You guys really made a mess of things, didn't you?" Envy observed. "If you had simply behaved yourselves, then we would've let you go a long time ago."

Father released Lissa, finally, and she stalked over to where Greed still had Ed pinned. "Let him go," she demanded, enraged. "It's over, you won. So let him go." She'd noticed his heel pressing into Ed's throat just a bit too tightly—and sure enough, when Greed shrugged and let up, Ed sat up rubbing his throat gingerly.

Lissa took his hand and pulled him up with her, wrapping her arm around his waist as they headed over to rejoin Al. She _hated_ this, hated losing and having to roll over and show her belly… But what choice did they have?

"Brother… Are you okay?" Al asked softly.

Ed turned back to look at Greed a moment, his eyes narrowed. "He's in there. I know it," he whispered. "Ling's alive."

Something pressed into Lissa's back, and she recoiled when she realized it was Envy's grotesque clawed foot, nudging her towards the door. "Get going," they demanded irritably. "All of you, move it. We're wasting time."

"It's hard to walk when just looking at you makes me wanna puke my guts up," Lissa sneered.

Envy rolled their eyes—but their body folded down all the same, reducing from that giant lizard monster with a crackle of energy, and finally turning back into the familiar spiky-haired version she'd grown accustomed to. "There, happy?" they muttered. "Now get moving. Unless you need me to go _back_ into that form for a little motivation?"

She gritted her teeth, but didn't argue any further. Ed's hand tightening on her hip warned her not to push it, too.

Envy led them out of the chamber and down the sewer tunnel, not the way she and Al had come but a different direction. The ceiling was crowded with guardians, just like before, and the ground still littered with bones—so there had to be either multiple entrances, or people who had tried to enter…and bypassed the doors to come this way instead. It made her sick to wonder just how many hapless people had died down here, torn to shreds by chimeras.

 _It won't help anybody to focus on that, will it?_

Lissa gripped harder to the back of Ed's shirt. Some part of her still didn't believe he was _here_ —but she could feel it under her own fingertips. He was warm and alive and _real_ , even though she didn't know how the hell he'd ripped his way back out of Gluttony's stomach. And there was no way they'd discuss it in front of Envy, regardless that the homunculus had been there for it.

Finally, Envy led them to the end of one offshoot tunnel, and pressed a red button embedded in the wall beside a set of double doors.

"Hey, where are you taking us?" Ed demanded fiercely.

The doors slid open, and Envy shot him a look over their shoulder. "Just get in," the ordered, stepping into…what looked like an elevator, honestly. A nondescript, blank-walled elevator. So they weren't exiting out some creepy back stairway, apparently.

Hesitantly, the three alchemists got in with Envy, though Lissa felt a bit…claustrophobic when the doors clanged shut. Being trapped in an elevator with a damned homunculus whose real form didn't _fit_ in the little metal box would do that to a person. When Envy's body sparked red, Lissa cringed back into Ed—but they just shifted into…an Amestrian soldier?!

"Why are you using that form?" Lissa asked them, scowling.

Envy rolled their eyes. "You'll see."

The elevator rolled to a stop and the doors slid open, revealing daylight and an eerily familiar corridor. Lissa followed the boys out, frowning, trying to place where the hell they were.

"Wait… This looks like…" Ed turned and stared out the nearest window in shock.

 _Oh, no. This can't be possible._

"It's Central Command," Al breathed, voicing what Ed and Lissa were too unsettled to. "We were right below it."

Father had ordered them taken to Wrath—yet with everything else, Lissa just…hadn't put it together. But Envy had brought them here to meet with the damned Führer, on his own turf, unmasked as a homunculus. A strike of cold fear flitted through her heart. Wrath…could ruin them all in a single moment.

"Hey." Envy looked at them expectantly. "You guys are plastered with filth. You can't go talk to Wrath this gross." They turned and beckoned for the three to follow. "There's some showers nearby, c'mon."

Though she was irked by the judgment, Lissa didn't dare rebuke them—she just trailed Envy to the showers a couple hallways over, where they pushed the door open to allow the boys in first. Lissa made to follow them in, but the homunculus shot his arm out across the doorway and blocked her path. "Ah-ah-ah, these are the _men's_ showers," Envy chided, clicking their tongue. "Ladies' showers are a couple doors down."

Lissa folded her arms over her chest. "Move your arm, Envy."

They smirked. "C'mon, little girl. I'll take you down there myself if you're too scared."

Ed surged up behind Envy and gripped down on their arm, twisting it firmly out of the way and shoving the homunculus halfway across the hall. "You stay the fuck away from her, understand?" he snarled. He grabbed Lissa by the waist and pulled her into the room, behind him, blocking her with his own body.

Envy snorted a laugh and raised their hands. "Fine, fine, do whatever you want, pipsqueak."

Ed slammed the door in their face. "Seven," he growled lowly.

Lissa raised an eyebrow. "Seven?"

"Seven damn times they've called me pipsqueak!"

She rolled her eyes at him, though she wasn't even upset, not after everything. "You probably shouldn't be counting. It'll only piss you off, y'know." Sighing, she turned to take stock of the men's showers, wrinkling her nose at the short, mostly useless stall doors that would leave, well…her entire chest exposed for all the world to see. "I cannot believe this," she mumbled. "Guys really don't care if they see each other's dicks when they shower."

Ed turned red as a cherry beside her. "That's not—you can't—we don't…"

"Okay, ground rules!" Lissa announced, speaking over him and clapping her hands together. "I'm going to the farthest stall on the left. I'll get in first to make it easier. Alphonse, I _will_ smack you with your own head if you so much as _move_ in my direction. Same goes for you, Edward—though…not your own head. I'll use your damn automail."

He rubbed at his face, still bright red. "Sheesh, Liss. It's like you don't trust us."

She smirked. "Al, I trust. I don't wanna scar my little brother, that's all. But you, Edward Elric? You're a perv at heart. I just know it. You'd sneak and stare at my ass."

Though he was blushing, Ed managed to smirk and wink at her. "Like you wouldn't do the same."

Al groaned and dropped his face into his hands. "Guys, _please_ … I'm right here."

Ed yelped and turned to face his brother, giving him a sheepish look. "Sorry, Al… I guess it was…some kinda shock, earlier, when we… I… Sorry."

Peeking out from behind his hands, Al deadpanned, "I'm a suit of armor, not blind."

Lissa patted his helmet and explained, "Al already knew, dummy. He figured us out ages ago." She sighed and crossed to Ed, draping her arms around behind his neck and pressing her forehead into his for a moment. "Don't…don't go anywhere, okay?" she asked him softly. "I hate letting you out of my sight at all right now."

Ed quirked a faint, but sweet smile. "I'm not leaving, Liss. I promise."

Reluctantly she released him and went to grab up what she needed—the best clothes she could find, and a few towels—and then headed back to the far-end shower. "Okay. No peeking, right?" she called. Al pointedly turned away, and Ed gave her a wry grin before doing the same. So with that much security at least, Lissa stripped out of her clothes as quickly as possible, and leapt behind the meager shower doors. She turned the water on and ducked under the spray, letting the cool water soothe the blush she'd been fighting back.

 _It's weird… It's so weird to be in_ _this_ _position now, when we still have so much shit to handle… Hormones are the freaking worst._

Soon after, she heard Ed turn his own shower on, and leaned into the wall for a moment just to appreciate him being there… Hearing his voice and sensing his presence… She hadn't been sure she'd get to do that ever again. She'd _never_ take him for granted again, never.

"So they've been here this whole time," Al mused softly, after a little idle chatter. "I never would've guessed they were beneath the command center."

Lissa rinsed the last of the soap from her body with a grimace. _You and me both._

"So maybe it's not just the Führer. The entire military might be involved," Ed muttered. "But, hey…" His voice brightened. "There is some good news in all of this."

"What good news?" Al wondered.

Lissa turned off the water, hearing Ed's cut out moments later, and began drying herself off while still behind the protection of the walls between her and the boys. "Yeah, I'd love a little good news among all the crap," she added. "What's on your mind, Ed?"

"Well… I saw your body, Al."

She couldn't help it—she peeked around the corner in time to see Al jolt, staring at the stalls in shock. "You saw it?! My body's still in there?!"

"It is," Ed confirmed. "I tried to reach out for it, but it said that it couldn't go with me since I wasn't its soul."

"My body… It still exists! Yes, yes!" Al cheered, clenching his fists in excitement.

"Yes! And now that we know it's there, we're one step closer to gettin' it back," Ed told him encouragingly.

Lissa ducked back and finished drying her body, wrapping her hair up in a towel to keep it out of the way for the moment. She had no choice but to use her same underclothes, which felt a bit gross to do now that she was clean—but she was _not_ walking around without a bra, especially through damned Central HQ. So she pulled on the big shirt she'd grabbed just to cover herself for the time being, intending to raid the women's showers before they actually went to see Wrath, and stepped out of the stall. The button-down shirt fell all the way practically to her knees, like a dress more than anything else, so she didn't feel badly about it. "So you saw it on your way out of Gluttony's stomach? How did that work, exactly? You never explained it."

"Oh, yeah…" She heard the faint swishing as he dried his hair off. "Well, I… Okay, it's gonna sound bad. But I transmuted myself out."

"Human transmutation…on a living being?" Al jerked his head up. "Brother…"

"I know, I know," Ed muttered. "I didn't have a choice, did I? If I hadn't done it…then I wouldn't be here. I'd still be in Gluttony's stomach."

Lissa leaned into the wall behind her and crossed her arms. "But then… How did you pay the toll? You two always talk about how there's a toll involved in any human transmutation—a payment to satisfy Equivalent Exchange. But you didn't lose a limb, so… Did you lose something intangible, Ed? Or did you find a way around it?"

He sighed roughly. "I didn't…find a way around it. I used Envy's Philosopher's Stone."

She gritted her teeth and cursed softly. Human souls. He'd used up some of the souls inside of Envy's Philosopher's Stone to get himself out of there. Yet…she couldn't be angry with him for it. Lissa herself had accepted the potential use of one, while Ed was trapped and she'd sworn to take on the task of getting Al's body back in his absence… But the very use of a stone would still have taken a toll from Ed. From his own soul, like a crack in his being, to use human lives to do _anything_.

Into the resounding silence, Ed whispered, "I know. It's a horrible thing."

"Whose souls were in Envy's Philosopher's Stone?" Al asked him quietly, staring down at his own lap.

"The people of Xerxes. Their bodies and minds…were long gone. They had nowhere to return to." Ed's voice trembled as he spoke. "Don't worry. However much you hate me for it, I promise you, I hate myself more."

Lissa closed her eyes tightly.

"But I don't hate you, brother." Al sighed and shook his head. "I can't hate you, ever. You needed a way out, and there was only one way, so… You did what you had to do. Besides…better your quick usage of those souls, than the remnants of their lives being dragged out to support Envy's existence."

She lifted off the wall and crouched to begin gathering her clothes from where she'd abandoned them, just to give her hands something to do. Not yet…not while they were still in the hornet's nest…but later, Lissa would do what she ached to do—she'd pull Edward into her arms and get him to talk all about what he went through, to release everything he was carrying from his time in Gluttony's stomach. It was more than just the usage of the stone… She could feel that he'd truly suffered in there, she just didn't know how to fix it _here_.

"Well, all of that aside… We have confirmation that your body's still in there, Al. And it hasn't rotted or anything, though I gotta admit, seeing your skinny ass there, we'll have to fatten you up a bit…" Ed's voice stopped echoing a bit as he stepped out of the stall, though Lissa was facing away and didn't see him come out. "Uh, Al… What's that weird little cat doing in here?"

Lissa stuffed her clothes under one arm and turned to stand up. "She's called Xiao Mei, I think. I was wondering what she…"

 _Naked. Naked!_

She dropped her clothes and spun away, pressing both hands to her face in utter shock. Had—had that really just happened?! "Edward Elric! Why the _hell_ are you naked?!" Lissa shrieked.

"Gah! Liss! I thought you—when did you—oh _fuck_!"

"Ed!" Alphonse snapped, sounding frustrated. "That little girl's in my armor, too! Why'd you come out here _naked_ , idiot?!"

Ed yelped again, totally undignified. "Are you serious?! She's inside your armor?!"

"Brother, stop yelling," Al chided him. "And while you're at it, will you put on some freaking pants?"

The door swung open and Envy snapped, "Hey, what's all the yelling about?! Get a move on!"

Lissa rounded on them and flung the closest object—a bar of soap, in this case—right at the homunculus. " _Out_ , Envy!" she snarled.

They ducked the soap, just barely, and glowered at her. "Just—hurry up already!"

With the door securely closed again, Lissa turned back to the boys, shielding her eyes with one hand and staring pointedly at her own feet. "Ten seconds and you better be _covered_ , Ed. I swear. Ten seconds!"

"Hey! What about you, that's _barely_ clothing!" he demanded.

She jerked her gaze up, frustrated that he'd go there—only to yelp and press both hands over her face. _I'm never getting that out of my head. Never!_ "Trousers!" she demanded, to cover her own embarrassment. "This is just like a dress or something, dummy! It's covering more of me than I usually cover! _You_ are completely naked! And now I get to be jealous of a damned homunculus, so _get dressed_ before I throw a bar of soap at _you_!"

Ed grumbled something under his breath, but consented to get dressed finally, judging by the rustle of clothing that followed.

In the awkward silence, Al piped up in a wry voice, "Why are you jealous of Envy, Lissa?"

She clenched her eyes shut. "Don't say another word."

"Buuuuuuut-"

"For the sake of your own innocence, Alphonse."

He coughed. "Noted."


	32. No Recovery

This one is shooooort. By my standards. It's part of that whole awkward-cut-issue from the last chapter, but I think it's all right? I'm happy with it nonetheless. But in return for the shorter chapter, I'll have the next one out within the next day or so! Fingers crossed that makes up for it. I'm really thrilled you all liked the last one - even with the length! - and I hope you'll enjoy this one too!

* * *

After a quick stop in the ladies' showers—which Envy griped about the whole way—Lissa felt a bit more normal, dressed in a loose blue exercise shirt and a pair of borrowed trousers, though it was driving her _crazy_ that Ed kept avoiding her gaze like she'd snap at him or something. He'd grabbed her hand so tightly it was borderline painful, yet he couldn't make eye contact without his face turning bright red again.

" _Stop_ , dummy," she told him quietly. Lissa extricated her hand from his and instead rubbed along his back, trying to get him to settle down. "We're okay, Ed. You don't need to keep being weird about it."

 _Please. Because now we have to go face Wrath, and I really need you on my side._

He finally met her gaze and smiled, a touch shyly. "Okay. Sorry, Liss."

She took his hand back and threaded her fingers between his, just shaking her head. Not now. They didn't need anything lingering now.

"Jeez, Al," Ed muttered aside to his brother, peering up at the armor, almost offended somehow. "Did you really have to bring that little girl along with us?" Ah, so that was the issue. Al still had that tiny Xingese girl in his armor.

Al huffed at him. "What else was I supposed to do?" he whispered back. "She's hurt pretty bad."

"Hey!" Envy snapped from up ahead, startling all three out of their whispered discussion. They'd paused beside an all-too familiar set of wooden doors. "Wrath'll take over babysitting you now. Right this way."

Ed scowled at him. "Wrath?"

Lissa gripped down on his hand tightly, trying to stall him from walking into that room—but he was too damn curious. "Ed—Wrath is-"

But he jolted to a stop in the doorway before she could get the words out. Lissa sucked in a sharp breath as she took in the scene before them. Inside that room…Wrath, the Führer of Amestris, sat at a round wooden table calmly sipping from a cup of tea. And across from him was _Colonel Mustang_ , sitting ramrod straight in his own chair.

"Colonel?" Ed breathed, stunned. He started walking, almost automatically, pulling Lissa with him while Al kept pace. "What's going on?" he asked lowly.

Mustang folded his arms over his chest. "Where should I begin?" he muttered. "Fuery's been shipped south, Falman's been sent up north, and Breda's been reassigned to the west. Lieutenant Hawkeye is now a personal assistant to the Führer."

Lissa clenched her free hand into a fist. _Riza. Dammit._

With this…horribly benign smile on his face, the Führer indicated the three chairs placed adjacent to Mustang's spot. "Go ahead and take a seat," he encouraged them.

Slowly, with her heart racing in her chest, Lissa sat down between Ed and Mustang, keeping her hands below the table. Her gloves were too shredded to cover up all her tattoos, and the newly-drawn circles she'd been using as well… And she didn't want to give the Führer the reminder that she, Ed, and Al could attack at any moment. Mustang didn't have his ignition gloves, but regardless… With the doors closed and Envy waiting outside, Lissa realized this _could_ be the perfect setup for an attack. So why put himself in this position? One homunculus against four alchemists, in an enclosed space?

 _He…isn't afraid of us,_ she realized with a jolt. _Not even a little._

A faint _cough_ filtered out of Al's armor, and Lissa quickly brought her hand to her mouth, coughing into her glove a couple times for good measure. That little girl had better stay quiet, dammit!

Scrambling to cover the moment, Ed rested his automail arm on the table and asked, "Um, Führer… So what was that in the hospital that day… When you came to visit me and Lissa?" He narrowed his eyes a bit. "You really had us goin', didn't you?"

Wrath regarded him for a moment. "I don't recall lying," he mused. "I instructed you to suspect everyone. And not to meddle any further. The only thing you need to know is that you're important to us—and there's no need for you to dig any deeper. Accept the importance of your role and keep your heads down." He inclined his head. "You do that, and no harm will come to you."

Ed scowled at him. "Well, that's great for us, but what happens to all of the people who aren't lucky enough to be considered _sacrifices_?"

But Wrath just remained impassible, his tone even. "There's nothing you need to know that I haven't already told you. Is that clear, Fullmetal Alchemist?"

The title was a rebuke in and of itself. And as Lissa looked at Ed, watching his mind working behind his eyes, she felt…that she knew where he was heading. She'd seen it before, that sort of deep-set resignation behind a veneer of feigned ease.

"You chose that as my title," Ed pointed out, withdrawing his bloodstained pocket watch and holding it up in his left hand, contemplating it. "I only joined the military because I thought it might help us get our bodies back. But now? Now I know what the state alchemist program really is. You're using it as a way to recruit your sacrifices." His hand trembled faintly as he gripped down on the watch. "Well… I'm not gonna let you use me to accomplish your sick goals. I resign my title as a state alchemist!"

And with that, he tossed the watch towards Wrath, letting it clatter across the table with a heavy sense of finality.

Lissa gripped down on her own watch. Debt or no debt…this was right. They couldn't kill her, after all, not since she was a potential sacrifice… Which meant it didn't matter if she had a debt to the state hanging over her head. She'd figure it out a different way.

Wrath stared down at the watch, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly now. "The symbol of a dog…fittingly crusted with blood."

"Your plans are gonna fail," Ed told him sharply. "I swear on my own grave that I'm gonna stop you. I'll warn the other state alchemists. I'll tell them-"

But Wrath interrupted him. "It's odd… You pieced together the truth about the state alchemist program, but you didn't sense the same truth in the program that brought you and your beloved Starlight Alchemist together, Fullmetal."

Lissa's blood ran cold.

"Our youth alchemy institution is a way to keep track of any promising young alchemists we might come across, who have lost their parents and are at risk of vanishing into the system." Wrath flicked his gaze sideways to Lissa for just a moment. "Miss Caito was brought here because we sensed she might have the makings of a potential candidate, even at her young age. A theory which has become reality, given recent developments. Knowing your relationship, I'm sure you were planning on turning in your own resignation, Starlight. However, I must warn you… If you do that, then your debt, currently a monetary debt only, will become a life debt."

"What—you can't do that!" Ed snarled, gripping the edge of the table. "You guys needed her alive! Your _Father_ said so!"

Wrath nodded smoothly. "Yes. That's true. However, we do have other acceptable candidates for sacrifice in play. Though it would be a regrettable loss of options, it would be possible to proceed without her."

Lissa choked on a ragged breath. _A life debt…_

Ed was seething with absolute rage, his automail creaking as he dug his fingers into the table, on the verge of breaking clean through the wood. "How dare you! Dammit, don't you dare threaten her, I'll-"

"What was that lovely young girl's name again?" Wrath mused, tapping two fingers to his temple. "Ah, yes. It's Winry Rockbell."

Lissa jolted, feeling Ed's hand suddenly land on her leg beneath the table and clench down. Winry… He was talking about _Winry_ … Both the boys were staring at Wrath in renewed horror—and all Lissa's own fears about herself fled at the sheer mention of the sweet, innocent blonde girl. He'd dragged _Winry_ into this.

"Your automail engineer… And you grew up in Resembool together as well, if I'm not mistaken. She's practically a family member, isn't she?" Wrath eyed Ed with a certain shadow to his gaze now, a threat in his darkening voice. "I've heard that she's made quite a name for herself with her customers in Rush Valley… Such a sweet and trusting girl." It was _mocking_ , coming from him, the idea that somebody could be trusting enough to tell anyone those things… Trusting enough to be…used against them…

Ed slammed his automail hand down on the table. "You stay away from her! Just leave her out of this!"

Wrath tapped his finger on Ed's discarded pocket watch. "Well, now. That's up to you two, isn't it?" He slid the watch back across the table. "If you'd rather not take it, then I will simply have to cut her down. And Envy is waiting just outside to take Starlight as well, if you require any further persuasion."

Lissa hated that _her_ life was being dangled in front of Ed as well—and it was perhaps that which led her to rest her own hand atop his watch, stopping him from grabbing it up for the moment. "If you need collateral," she began softly, meeting his gaze and refusing to let herself flinch, "then use me. But leave Winry alone. Don't make Edward do this."

"Hm. Such nobility." Wrath's eyes were so… _cold_ , calculating. "Tell me, Starlight Alchemist… You're quite close with Major Alex Armstrong, are you not?"

 _No… Please, no…_

"Something of a father figure, if I'm not mistaken. And, well… _his_ movements are quite open to me, given that he's under my command. And after what happened in Ishval, it wouldn't be a surprise to anyone to find he'd decided to hang himself one night."

Lissa felt a tremor run through her—not of fear but of _anger_. "Leave Alex out of it," she hissed. "He's got nothing to do with this!"

Wrath inclined his head. "And he won't, providing you and Fullmetal are cooperative. Now remove your hand."

Slowly, trembling head to toe in absolute rage, Lissa released Ed's watch and allowed him to take it back, to stuff it angrily into his pocket. It was a trap with no way out. Winry over Ed and Al, and Alex over Lissa, and Mustang's team over him… And then the added layer of Lissa's own debt to the state, and the form it would take if she dared try to break away from the military. There was no way to get out of this. Not a single fucking way.

Wrath _smiled_ , and Lissa wanted to punch his teeth out. "How thoughtful," he told her.

Al was the first to recover, while Lissa and Ed were still lost to their own anger. "Uh, sir… You don't have to worry about us," he hurried to cover, "b-but I have to ask… If we're going to continue to serve under your watch… Will you please allow us to keep searching for a way to get our original bodies back? Please, sir."

The homunculus sipped at his tea thoughtfully. "I don't see why not. As long as you don't interfere with our plans."

 _Oh, Alphonse, you sly little thing… You've covered all our future movements, haven't you?_

"And what do you have in mind, Colonel?" Wrath asked, switching his attention over. "Surely you wouldn't do something so petty as to quit the military?"

Mustang brought a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Good question. I'm on a short leash here…but I still find that preferable to giving up."

Lissa gripped Ed's hand beneath the table, enraged. Giving up! As if _that's_ the truth of what they wanted to do!

"And I still have my ambitions. Your plans don't change that." Mustang lifted his own pocket watch sort of demonstratively, his gaze steady. He'd scarcely reacted through Wrath's entire threatening speech. "So I'll hang onto this… And I'll retain my rank, too."

Wrath inclined his head. "That's fine with me. We have nothing more to discuss."

Lissa stood up from the table as the boys did, Mustang just a second behind them, her fingers curling at her side with the effort of not grabbing Ed's hand right away. But it would be better to wait, to hold her composure just a little bit longer… She didn't want to seem weak in front of Wrath, not even for a moment.

As they turned to go, Mustang paused and asked lowly, "I would like to ask you one question, sir."

Lissa tensed—but waited, wanting to hear what was so important.

"Would you, now? Go ahead," Wrath conceded.

Mustang's jaw clenched. "Are you the one who murdered General Hughes?"

 _Oh, damn._

Lissa turned back, stunned as Wrath told him, "No. That was not me." But if it wasn't Wrath… Then who the hell killed Hughes? That was still a mystery, still something to weigh on their heads in all this—that they had yet to figure out who killed Hughes, and _why_ , specifically.

Mustang glanced back at him. "Then who did?"

"Colonel…" The homunculus's voice edged sharp. "I agreed to one question."

Though it must have been hard, Mustang accepted that without further argument. "We'll be leaving now," he announced, instead of whatever harsh remark was no doubt hanging around the back of his mind.

For a moment, it seemed like they were free—but then Wrath spoke up yet again.

"Oh, just one moment, Alphonse."

Lissa gritted her teeth and rounded on him, protectiveness rising in her like a damn tide of lava. What did he possibly want with Al? Unless… Unless he'd…

Wrath moved, so quickly he blurred before her eyes, drawing his sword and plunging it into the side of Al's armor. Lissa swallowed back the shriek that tightened her throat—so he'd noticed earlier, when that little Xingese girl coughed! Fuck!

But… When Wrath pulled his sword back out, there was no blood, no sign of…anything at all.

"I-is that all?" Al stammered.

"That's all," the homunculus agreed, sheathing his sword. "You are now dismissed."

It took every ounce of Lissa's self-control not to stare down into Al's armor as they left, as Mustang pulled the doors closed behind them. Only once they had a barrier between them and the Führer did she grab onto Ed's wrist and breathe out heavily. "She slid down, right?" she hissed.

Al nodded weakly and tapped the side of his leg.

"Oh, hey, Colonel!" Ed was already on the move, his mind already a hundred steps past headquarters, racing forward as always. "Help us out, have you got any change?" he asked, holding out his hand expectantly.

Mustang gave him an exasperated look—yet he dug in his pocket anyway. "You want my money now?" he grumbled.

"Just give it!" Ed complained, snatching the few coins from Mustang's hand and counting them in his palm. "Ugh, jeez, that all you got? Really?"

"It's apparently more than you've got!"

Ed rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever. See ya."

Mustang stared at the boys as they started to take off down the hall, just utterly baffled. Honestly, Lissa was a bit confused, though she didn't voice it.

"Sorry, Colonel!" Al called over his shoulder. "We'll explain everything later!"

Ed peered back at Lissa for a moment. "Liss, c'mon!"

She glanced uncertainly at Mustang, who she _still_ hadn't apologized to—but he rested his hand on her shoulder and gave her a faint smile. "Go on, Lissa. Everything's all right. I'll talk to you later," he told her gently.

Lissa swallowed hard—he was rarely so kind to her outright—but accepted the gesture anyway and ran after the boys, leaving Mustang there in the hall.

—

Upon reflection, racing straight out of that meeting and calling Winry was…maybe not the best plan. Lissa only realized that after Ed had already gotten her on the phone, and by that point she just didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise. So she stood there, leaning against Al's armor to keep an eye on the Xingese girl's breathing, her eyes closed against the sun.

 _It should be raining, on a day like this. Not beautiful and sunny._

"How's she doing?" Al asked her quietly.

Lissa focused for a moment, sensing the faint disturbances in the air, trying to separate out the girl's breathing. "She's…breathing too rapidly. We need to get her to a doctor soon, I'm starting to get worried about her condition."

He sighed and nodded. "We'll take her to Dr. Knox after this."

Ed hung up the phone and turned to them, letting out a huge sigh of relief. "I think she's still safe for now," he announced, weary.

Something nudged at the back of her mind, something both familiar and skin-crawling. Lissa turned and stuck both arms out, glaring as the homunculus approached—she'd sensed him too late to call him out. "What do you want?" she demanded.

Greed smirked at her. "Y'know, it's that kind of desperate worry they're gonna manipulate you with," he pointed out, seeming a bit…exasperated.

"Ling?" Ed yelped, startled by his appearance.

The homunculus rolled his eyes. "No, it's Greed. Still."

Ed glared at him and moved beside Lissa, both standing between him and Al. "What the hell are you doing here?" he snapped.

Greed reached into his pocket and pulled out a dirty white strip of cloth, which he held out at Ed. "Your pal asked me to bring this to you," he explained, with a faint shrug.

"Ling did?" Eager now, Ed snatched the cloth and flipped it over to see the other side, where a handful of characters had been drawn—likely in blood. "What does it say?" he asked, scowling. "It's in some other language."

Greed tipped his head. "Yeah, it is. But he just wants you to deliver it to some girl."

 _Some girl… Wait!_ "He wants us to take it to Lan Fan?" Lissa asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Is this some kinda trick?" Ed growled, suspicious. "Cuz if you follow us and try to kill her…"

Looking affronted, Greed told them, "I've got more class than that, all right? And as a rule of thumb, I don't fight women." He eyed Lissa and smirked. "Unless they really twist my arm. And another rule of mine is to never tell a lie, but hey… It's your call." With that, he gave them a little wave and headed off down the cobbled pathway, just…just leaving them there.

"Hey, wait!" Ed called. "Ling!"

"It's still Greed, kid!"

Ed sighed roughly and gripped the cloth in his hand. "Dammit. Well… We know Ling's in there now, at least."

"What kind of writing is that?" Al wondered, lifting the end of the cloth curiously.

Lissa waved a hand. "It's Xingese script. Something about the Philosopher's Stone, I think. I didn't see all of it."

"You…" Ed stared at her in utter bewilderment. "You can read Xingese, Lissa?"

She froze, her heart pounding in her chest. If he'd asked her that before, she would've said no… But the script on that strip of cloth had _meant_ something to her. "I… I'd say no, honestly… I didn't think I'd even seen Xingese writing before today, but…" Lissa gingerly took the cloth, sliding it through Ed's fingers, and held it out. Some part of her mind was…making sense of the symbols, though they almost…wavered before her eyes, like sand sliding through her fingers… Everything was…spinning…

Lissa blinked as the world shifted back into focus, startled to find herself on the ground, her upper half in Ed's arms with his anxious face staring down at her. "Sorry," she mumbled, pushing upright. "I—got dizzy, I guess."

Al clutched at the cloth now gripped in his hands. "You said something weird, before you passed out, Lissa," he murmured.

Ed's jaw tightened. "Al—don't-"

"What, you don't want to tell her?" Al retorted sharply. "Brother thought you might have said something in Xingese."

"Al!"

"I won't lie to her," Al told him fiercely, shaking his head.

Lissa reached out and touched Ed's cheek lightly, getting him to look at her. "You don't need to protect me," she murmured. "Not like that, okay? Just…" She looked up at Al, meeting his glowing gaze, and nodded firmly. He'd seen her heal down in Father's chamber—and Ed hadn't. He understood more at the moment. "Ed… I need to talk to you about something. Okay? Al, why don't you take that little girl on to Dr. Knox's place, we'll catch up."

Ed grimaced ruefully. "I…probably need to clean up some of the mess we made fighting Scar here in the city, actually."

"Then I'll help you," Lissa asserted.

 _There's what Fu said…about my alchemy… And then the fact that I seem to be able to feel the Dragon's Pulse, though I didn't know what it was to begin with… And now this… Reading and maybe speaking Xingese… What the hell is happening to me?_

"Al…" She looked up at him thoughtfully. "Can you…replicate whatever I said? If Lan Fan or that little girl can understand what I said, it…it might help me figure all this out."

Al nodded firmly. "I'll do my best, big sister."

Ignoring Ed's bewilderment at the title, Lissa smiled up at Al gratefully. "Thanks, little brother."

They parted ways then, Lissa allowing Ed to support her as they walked—she was still just a bit unsteady from whatever happened earlier, and besides… She was happy to be close to him, after everything. And though it was surprising, maybe, for Al to go off like that…she sensed he wouldn't have been so comfortable if she hadn't been around.

"So…" Ed bumped her hip lightly with his own. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

Lissa chewed at the inside of her lip as she considered how to phrase it all. "Well… I…"

Something came over him before she could speak, though. "I gotta admit…right now I kind of feel like you're gonna…break up with me or something," he mumbled, a bit uncomfortably. "Which sounds stupid, but…"

She leaned in and kissed his cheek softly. "I mean, that'd be hard to do, since we never _officially_ decided that we're anything… But that's not it at all, Ed. I promise. No, I…" Lissa cast her gaze up towards the sky for a moment. "Something weird happened to me today. Down in that room, when our alchemy sort of—turned off. You and Al couldn't use it at all, but we know Scar and that little girl still had full control over theirs. The thing is…" She shook her head faintly. "It doesn't make any sense to me. I was trying to use alchemy like normal, doing all the stuff I usually do, but…I _healed_ myself, Ed. And you, once."

"You _healed_ me?" He almost tripped on an uneven spot on the pavement as he looked at her, completely stunned. "I didn't even notice… When the hell did that happen? And _how_?"

"When Envy had us pinned. It was just a couple scratches at first, nothing major, but…" Lissa twisted her fingers into the back of the suit jacket he'd snagged on his way out of headquarters. "Before I went to fight Greed with you, right there at the end… I got pinned underneath some debris, when Scar destroyed the whole damn floor, and it re-broke my ribs. Alphonse got me out, but I was in bad shape—until I…" She swallowed hard. "I healed my own broken ribs, Ed."

"But that…" Ed let out a breath through his teeth. "That shouldn't be possible, right? I mean, you've never used healing alchemy before, and with our alchemy turned off in the first place…" His fingers pressed into her hip, just a little tighter. "Damn, Liss. But… Shit, remember what old man Fu said, out in Xerxes? He thought you might have Xingese ancestry."

She nodded reluctantly. "He said my alchemy was strange too. And Ling and Lan Fan both confirmed that they feel the same thing from the homunculi that I do—not to mention Ling basically insisted I'm feeling what they call the Dragon's Pulse. And now…"

Ed twisted his mouth up and nodded too. "Now you might've read Xingese. But… Your parents weren't Xingese, were they?"

"No. Their names were Richard and Miranda, and those are Amestrian names. Plus _Caito_ isn't a Xingese name anyway." Lissa resisted the urge to bury her face against his collarbone. It was just…so _overwhelming_ , and made infinitely worse by the fact that not only were her parents dead, but she had so few memories of them as well. She had nothing to go on, no information lurking at the back of her mind… "Dammit. I wish I could've asked Ling more…"

He pulled her into him. "We'll talk to Lan Fan soon, okay? She might be able to help. And Al said he was gonna try to find out whatever you said, too, so maybe that'll sort of…point us in a direction, at least."

Lissa finally gave in and turned to him, pausing there against the nearest building and curling into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder and just…allowing herself to get lost in him for a moment. Ed pulled her in tight without any hesitation, one arm around her waist and the other hand resting on the back of her head, his thumb stroking softly, soothing her. They stood like that for a few minutes, not needing to speak or do anything but be together.

"I thought I'd lost you," she admitted softly, when the words burned too much at the back of her throat.

He nodded, his arms tightening around her. "I know. I'm so sorry, Liss… It must have been…terrifying, to be left behind like that…"

Lissa sighed and pressed her lips to the side of his neck. "It was. But I… I didn't care about myself half as much as I cared about _Alphonse_. Ed, you can't do that to him again… To… _us_ …" She blinked against the sudden wetness at her eyelashes. "I'd look after him, you have to know that, but… He needs you…"

"I'm sorry," Ed whispered again, like he didn't know what else to say.

She lifted up and met his eyes, shaking her head softly. "Don't apologize anymore. Just…stay. Al needs you, and I…" Lissa felt her face grow warm, but she didn't look away. "I need you too, Ed."

He rested his hand along the side of her neck, his thumb stroking invisible lines across her jaw, and she leaned into his touch as he pulled her in and kissed her. Lissa didn't think she'd ever get tired of that, of how soft and sweet his lips were against hers…how they seemed to fit together like puzzle pieces, not an inch of space between them…

When Ed pulled back, Lissa curbed the desire to drag him back in, mindful that they were in public, aware he was still unsettled… And so was she, in truth… So she restrained herself and merely brushed her lips against his cheek. "We should go," she pointed out softly.

"Yeah," Ed agreed, nodding. "Just…" He sighed and lifted her hair out of her face, so he could see her better, and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Liss… _Thank you_. For taking care of Al. He's had to go through so much already, and I just… I can't tell you how much that means to me…"

She smiled at that. "I told you, he's like my little brother too. It just…seemed like the right thing, to be his big sister when you weren't there."

"So _that's_ why you're calling each other that now," Ed mused, grinning. "I was wondering."

"It is. Like I said…I'd look after him, he's my family too, I mean—with everything between _us_ , he's kind of _our_ little brother, _our_ responsibility—but it's…" Lissa frowned at him. "That can't be some—reassurance that you can go be reckless, okay?"

Ed laughed, a bit reluctantly, and kissed her forehead. "It won't be. Promise." He stepped back and offered her his hand, quirking a sweet smile when she took it. "C'mon. We've got a city to fix."

—

The clothes she'd borrowed— _stolen_ —from Central HQ weren't too bad, upon reflection, so Lissa lay them out and transmuted them to her own size while Ed was still in the shower, figuring she might as well keep them now that she had them. At first she she'd been surprised he felt the need to shower again, considering they'd done that earlier, but he'd made some vague mention of a sea of blood inside Gluttony and she hadn't really wanted to ask any further questions.

While fixing up Central, she and Ed had discussed at length what happened in Father's lair. Their general consensus was that Xingese alkahestry must function differently than Amestrian alchemy, which was why their transmutations worked—and, if their suspicions about Lissa's ancestry were correct, it would explain why she could suddenly heal.

Not that she could do it anymore, though. Since the normal alchemy had been turned back on, Lissa could only use her normal set of skills.

She set aside her newly-transmuted clothes and got to work on her next project—Ed's tattered red cloak. He'd want it back, she knew, even though it had been completely shredded by Scar when they fought him. _Was that really just…yesterday? So much happened… It feels like days and days have passed._

Lissa sighed and set the cloak out, next to the extra red fabric she had on hand. Usually Ed handled this himself, but she didn't think he'd begrudge her doing it this time. He was exhausted, bitterly exhausted, to the point where she was listening hard in case he just sat down in the shower and fell asleep. It wouldn't surprise her. The little she'd heard about his time in Gluttony's stomach told her it had been a horrific experience. Not to mention he'd come out of that and straight into _another_ fight… She was worried about her-

 _My…what? What do I even call him?_

She smothered a little giggle at the idea of calling Ed her _boyfriend_. It felt…almost juvenile, though she didn't have a better word for it. How silly, when that title seemed so impermanent and she couldn't picture her life without him. Though he was the one who'd brought the term _breaking up_ into it earlier, admittedly.

 _Maybe I'll ask him. Ooh, but he'd never let me live that down, would he? Besides, it might offend his pride if I have to ask him to stick an official title on it, he's so stupidly chivalrous he probably would have to ask me himself. Dummy._

There was a dull _thump_ in the bathroom, followed by Ed's pained whine a moment later. Lissa tucked his repaired cloak into her backpack and crossed to the door, knocking on it softly. "Ed? You okay?"

"M'fine…"

She smirked to herself. "Did you fall?"

"…No…"

Lissa hid a laugh and leaned into the doorframe. "You know, you can ask me for help if you need it… I did already see you naked, so it's nothing I haven't seen before at this point."

"Not how I pictured that happening, to be honest."

She _did_ laugh then, blushing just a bit at the memory. That image was permanently seared into her brain now. "Me either. But seriously, Ed, do you need help? Because if you're just sitting in the shower right now…" She shook her head faintly. "You don't need to be embarrassed to ask for my help, y'know."

"Yeah, I do," he mumbled distantly. "S'not like you didn't just go through hell too, Liss. How exactly is it fair of me to ask for help?"

"I didn't fight the giant lizard monster."

He paused for a moment. "Okay, I'll give you that." The water shut off, and Lissa stood there waiting, listening to the faintest sounds of movement from inside. "I…all right, fine," Ed muttered. "I managed to cover myself up at least, so I don't scar you twice, but… I… I do need help."

Lissa smiled to herself and stepped right in. Ed was sitting in the shower, his head tilted back against the tiles, with a towel wrapped around his waist slowly getting soaked by the water pooled at the bottom of the stall. "See how stupid this is?" he whined. "There's no way you aren't completely embarrassed of me."

"Except I'm not," she told him gently. Lissa crossed to him and opened the shower door, kneeling at the entrance and smiling. "Ed, you're _exhausted_. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Here, give me your hand, okay?" He did so, his face reddening at the gesture, but she just pulled him to his feet and wrapped her arm across his back, tugging his own arm over her shoulders and helping him step out of the shower. She could feel just how damn tired he was by how much of his weight he actually rested on her, so Lissa made the executive decision to walk him out of the bathroom and have him sit down on the edge of the bed, while she went about grabbing some clothes for him.

"Liss, you don't have to do all that," Ed told her, wrinkling his nose as she handed him his usual loose trousers and t-shirt, plus a pair of boxers, for sleeping. "This has gotta be super weird for you."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?" Lissa pointedly turned away so he could change, though her heart was fluttering in her chest, stupid hormones _painfully_ aware of what he was doing just behind her. "Why does it have to be weird?"

"Because…" Ed's hand tugged lightly on the back of her shirt, and she turned to see he'd gotten dressed and was beginning to rake his fingers through his damp hair. "I dunno. All this, between us, it's still…pretty new. And, I mean, I wouldn't blame you for being…uncomfortable. Especially after today, you know?"

Lissa sighed and crossed her arms at him. "I think you're getting me confused with somebody else. I grew up in a military-run facility, I'm not some…stupid flighty girl who can't handle herself."

That made Ed grin up at her, through his wet bangs. "I know you're not. That still doesn't mean it wouldn't be unsettling, though. Especially all at once."

She wrinkled her nose. "What part of me makes you think I'd be…unsettled?" Lissa rolled her eyes at the way he was talking about all this. "Seriously, Ed. I like to think I have a _little_ more confidence than that." Trying to lighten him up, she smirked and asked, "What, is my confidence intimidating or something?"

Ed gave her a surprisingly genuine smile, though. "No. I love your confidence. I just…don't want there to be anything weird between us, that's all."

Lissa nodded slowly, watching him continue to drag his fingers through his hair—then she sighed and pointed a finger at him. "Stop doing that. You're hurting yourself and you aren't even paying any attention to it, are you?"

"I…didn't notice," he admitted, dropping his hands and wincing.

She grabbed a hairbrush from her backpack and settled onto the bed behind him, sliding her legs to either side of him and beginning to carefully work the brush through. "Dummy," she murmured, making him laugh softly. "Is it weird that I like your hair?" Lissa asked. Then she wrinkled her nose, embarrassed she'd asked it aloud—she'd really meant to keep it inside her head, safely tucked away where he couldn't hear it.

Too late now, though.

Ed traced his fingers along her leg softly, almost absently. "I don't think so. Usually I don't really like people touching my hair, but…" She saw the corner of his lips quirk up. "I've never minded with you."

"Lucky for me, then." Lissa finished and set the brush aside—but rather than moving back, she wrapped her arms around Ed's middle and pulled him back against her, resting her chin on his shoulder and curling him tight into her arms. "Talk to me," she murmured. "Tell me what happened, Ed… I know it's weighing on you."

He cringed and ducked his head. "You don't wanna know."

Lissa sighed, realizing he'd need more security than this, more than just the simple question. So she kissed his cheek and got up, leaving him to watch as she put the hairbrush away, turned off the lights, and climbed back into the bed. She figured she'd test his mindset, so she left space for him there and flipped the blankets back, opened her arms…and waited.

It didn't take long. Ed crawled up after her and lay right in the space she'd created, twining his arms around her waist and letting her envelop him in her arms. Lissa smiled as she pressed her lips to his forehead, so relieved he'd come to her.

"I won't force you to do anything," Lissa began slowly, trying to phrase this carefully. "I'd never do that to you, Ed. But…I know you suffered something awful in there, and if…if I can help at all, then I want to. Even if all I can do is listen and be here for you. All you do is take care of other people… So… It's okay to let me take care of you for once."

Ed looked up at her a moment, forehead creased, gaze fraught with distress… Then he tucked his head beneath her chin…and began to talk.


	33. Secrets

I want to take a second to thank all the new commenters/readers I've gotten over the past few chapters - this has been a huge journey for me, to actually share something for the first time in years and years. Seeing a positive reaction to this story has means so much more than I can put into words. I've put my heart and soul into Lissa's story and all I can hope is that the path I take her on will continue to be enjoyable. So thank you, THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart. In line with that, a little surprise... It's a double-update! So stick around because I'll be posting both chapters one after another!

* * *

Lissa awoke to the feeling of a soft, sweet kiss on her forehead. She reached out—first to her right, where Ed should be, and then _up_ when she realized he was out of bed. "What are you doing?" she asked him quietly, blinking her eyes open tiredly. She couldn't have been asleep long, she figured, after sitting up for several hours letting Ed pour his heart out. He'd been through _hell_ , in the purest sense of the word, and it had taken so much out of him to retell that he'd fallen asleep there in her arms. She couldn't quite arrange why he was out of bed now, though.

He smoothed a piece of hair from her face and smiled. "I'm gonna give Lieutenant Hawkeye back her gun, that's all. You just stay and rest."

"Stay here alone?" she muttered, shaking her head. "No way. I'm coming with you." Stifling a yawn, Lissa pushed upright in bed and caught the lapel of Ed's jacket before he could step away too far. "Dummy. You really think I'd let you go anywhere by yourself right now?"

Ed smirked at her. "I guess not." He sat beside her as she swung her legs out of bed, and put his arm around her shoulders. "But I was wondering…if you're not going back to sleep, maybe you'd go see what's holding Al up. He hasn't come back yet and it's late, so I'm starting to get worried about him, honestly. It shouldn't take me long to run by the Lieutenant's, I wouldn't be away hardly at all."

"Al's at Dr. Knox's place," Lissa pointed out, leaning into his shoulder. She was still a bit fuzzy with sleep. "And you don't know where Riza lives, besides."

"You're gonna fall asleep before we get there," Ed teased lightly.

She turned her nose up. "I'll sleep on her sofa if I have to. _You_ aren't going anywhere on your own right now. Do you think our little brother would be happy with me if I let you go, huh? He'd kick my ass for that."

Ed laughed softly and nodded. His arm tightened around her as he pulled her in, resting his forehead against hers, just…being close. " _Our_ little brother. I like that. It's cute."

"It's also true," Lissa pointed out. "I mean, considering us being what we are."

He raised an eyebrow. "And what are we, exactly?"

She swatted at him and stood up, stretching her arms high over her head. "I'm _way_ too tired to have that conversation, Ed. Call it what you like, I'm not gonna stop kissing you when I want."

"I hope you never do," he told her wryly.

Just to prove the point, Lissa turned and pressed him backwards into the mattress, muffling his surprised groan as she kissed him, her teeth closing down on his bottom lip and tugging, just for a moment. "Never," she told him, straightening and smirking down at him. His cheeks had flared bright red at her forwardness—and even though her heart was racing in her chest, Lissa found it in herself to settle atop his legs and lean down over him, resting her elbows to either side of his body. He swallowed reflexively, staring up at her with those beautiful golden eyes. She still remembered the very first moment she'd seen his eyes, that night in Resembool… When he'd been so small and afraid, before his automail, before their lives had become the chaotic mess they were today.

"Ed?" she whispered, brushing her nose against his.

He blinked, confused. "Wh-what is it?"

Lissa shifted where she knelt, flattened out and slid her arms beneath him so she could tuck herself in against his chest. "You remember the first time we met, right?"

"Of course," Ed murmured. He brought his arms around her and pulled her in tight. "I'd never forget that."

"You must have thought I was crazy," she mused, reflecting.

Ed gave a soft laugh, mostly just air rushing past his lips. "I thought you were brave, honestly. I could tell you were scared, but you had this…ferocity in you. And when Mustang tried to make you leave…"

"I still can't believe he let me stay."

"Who the hell would've told you no, Liss?" Ed stroked his fingers along her spine, his left hand, using his automail to keep her close. "When you get that determined about something… I remember thinking, y'know…that I couldn't understand why somebody I'd never even _seen_ before then was so damn worried about me. I didn't know why I was worth it."

Lissa smiled against his shirt, recalling the moment, the first time she'd really stood against Mustang that way. "I just knew I couldn't watch you get hurt like that. I knew you'd suffered enough. And maybe some part of me just… _knew_ there was more… That your soul was worth it."

He breathed in sharply, his chest tightening underneath her cheek. "Liss…"

"We should get going," she told him softly, sitting upright and then sliding off him. He didn't need to deny her claim, and she wasn't going to give him time to.

Ed gave her a soft, crooked smile like he knew what she was doing. "Okay," he agreed, and stood up beside her, threading the fingers of his left hand between hers. "We'll go drop that gun off with the Lieutenant and then find Al. Deal?"

"Deal."

—

Despite her best efforts, by the time they reached Riza's apartment Lissa was practically dead on her feet—she'd only slept maybe an hour, she'd learned, spending a couple hours just watching Ed sleep and reassuring herself he was real—so she curled up under a blanket and napped on the sofa, drifting in and out while Ed and Riza talked for a bit. She caught the highlights—Riza talked a lot about Ishval and the war there, which she would've liked to be a bit more…conscious for, but she caught enough.

Besides…it wasn't her first time hearing about it. Alex had, in one of his weaker moments, explained his own experiences there and the events which had led to him meeting her, in fact. He'd only been on guard at the facility as a sort of extended punishment for leaving the field in Ishval, for being unable to carry out his duty.

Lissa rather thought it made him a better person.

He refused it when she told him as much, but she never stopped thinking it. Everything she knew about the Ishvalan Civil War told her it was a horror campaign—and Riza's account only supported that. She knew her own path as a state alchemist might well place her in that same position…and Ed as well…but Lissa knew, deep in her heart, neither of them would be able to carry out those orders. Accepting that they could be asked to become human weapons was one thing. _Becoming_ human weapons was another issue entirely.

She'd grown up around state alchemists, around that whole world, so it was maybe a little less…startling to her than it was to Edward. He'd seen the other side of the war, but to know the truth about the people around him, Mustang and Alex and all the others… She knew it had to hit somewhere deep in him, that this was the office he'd chosen.

 _This is why I hate the military, Ed. And now you know._

Because even with the Colonel's plans… Even with the intent to bring war crimes charges against those who were lauded as _heroes_ in Ishval…

It didn't change what happened.

She drifted again, only to be awoken by the sound of her own name, that alone enough to pull her from the light sleep she'd fallen into.

"Lissa seems exhausted. You should get her back, Edward," Riza told him gently.

He sighed, weary. "I tried to get her to stay at the hotel, but…"

"She cares about you a lot. I'm glad you're watching each other's backs." A pause. "And I know you care about her a lot, too. Don't you?"

"Of course I do. But I just seem to bring her misery, whatever I do."

"I wouldn't say that. You didn't know her before, Edward—you didn't see what the rest of us saw. Lissa came to Central angry, hurt, and alone. I'd never seen a child so full of hatred. Plenty of us tried to get through to her—Major Armstrong managed, to an extent, and the Colonel nearly alienated her trying to guide her down the right path. But nobody affected her quite like you and Alphonse did. And you should know that. You should know that you two changed her life." Riza sighed softly, and Lissa heard her get up from the table. She kept her breathing still, listening, wondering what else she might say. "I don't really like to think where she might be without you."

Lissa clenched her teeth. She didn't either.

"But… Lieutenant…" Ed sounded so troubled. "Lissa's always been…so…kindhearted. What do you mean, full of hatred? She's not hateful at all."

"Not now, certainly. Did she ever tell you exactly how she was brought here?"

"No, she didn't. She said…that she was brought here because her alchemical abilities made her too much of a risk to leave in a normal foster home."

"The truth is, Lissa outed herself as an alchemist when she attacked the soldiers who were trying to bring her to safety. She rarely admits that much—but it's true. And she continued to struggle with those outbursts even here in Central, until the Major began training her and giving her an outlet for all her rage. We all knew she had a good heart…but she didn't show it very often."

"I didn't even know she'd trained so much with Major Armstrong," Ed admitted. "I knew she had some, but…"

"I don't want you to think less of her."

"I'd never."

"But I think it's important for you to understand the role you've had in her life—and to recognize that Lissandra…is aware of the darker side of our military. She grew up here. She was here when the state alchemists were still regaling all of us with tales of their… _heroism_ in Ishval. Lissa is a sweet girl, you're right that she's kindhearted, but that's only become so prevalent because of you and Alphonse." Riza's voice sharpened. "Take care of her, Edward. She's put her heart into _your_ hands, and no one else's."

"Lieutenant…" Lissa had to strain to hear him talk. "I swear to you, I'm going to take care of her. Lissa is… I don't even have a word for it, anymore… She's… A light in the darkness. Does that make sense?"

Lissa stifled a sudden burst of tears. _Oh, Edward… You've got no idea… No idea at all… You are my light in the darkness, and you don't even know it…_

"It does." A chair scraped back along the floor. "Talk to her about it, someday. When your lives have calmed down a bit. For now… Why don't you head back?"

She focused on composing herself, keeping her face carefully marshaled as Ed crossed to her and gently shook her awake. Lissa feigned that she'd been asleep, forced a yawn, played it off as though she hadn't heard anything… But she knew those words would sit with her forever. "Sorry I slept the whole time, Riza," she apologized, grinning sheepishly at the blonde.

Riza waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. I'll see you around, okay?"

Lissa took Ed's hand as she stood up, drawing close to him as they headed for the door. She didn't feel embarrassed in front of Riza. It wasn't as though this— _they_ —were a secret, besides, especially not now that he homunculi knew.

"I'll let you two know if I hear anything new about all of this," Riza told them, as they stepped into the hall.

Ed turned back to her worriedly. "The Führer's basically hired you to be his hostage. Will you be all right?"

Riza tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, it's all in how you look at it, I guess. This close to him, it just means I'll have a better chance to kill him in his sleep."

Lissa smiled tightly. That was certainly Riza's style.

"You scare me," Ed admitted, grinning. He tugged on Lissa's hand to go—but then hesitated once more. "Oh, yeah. Pass this on for me. Tell the Colonel that Scar is back."

Riza inclined her head. "Sure thing, no problem."

His expression shifted, just minutely. "Oh, and… Lieutenant…"

"Yes? What is it?" Riza picked up Hayate and held him against her abdomen.

Ed's gaze sharpened, his eyes tightened at the corners, and his hand clenched down on Lissa's just a little harder. "I just want to say thanks…for telling me about Ishval."

They left after that, heading back onto the darkened streets. Lissa had a brief moment of… _hope_ , for the future, a day when she could spend time with Ed like this without the whole damn world hanging over their shoulders. "So…Riza talked to you about Ishval," Lissa murmured, hating to break the moment—but reality was still looming in the background.

Ed nodded slowly. "Yeah. She…talked about a lot of it. I don't know how much you've heard before."

"More than anyone would give me credit for," Lissa muttered. "I used to spend all my time being trained by state alchemists… Starting right after the war in Ishval. Honestly, I grew up on those war stories, though I try not to think about it too hard." She traced her thumb across his knuckles absently. "I…I did hear some of what she told you, though. I knew most of it. I mean, it was hard not to. Everybody used to think I should feel _so_ damn special that the Hero of Ishval took a special interest in me, and they liked to tell me why, too."

He glanced at her, seeming a bit…uncertain. "I didn't know it was like that for you."

"Well, I never said, did I?" Lissa sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I feel like an ass—I knew your darkest secrets from the very first time we met, but…I've never really…talked about a lot of my past."

"You've never needed to," he told her gently. "You don't owe me any of it."

"And you're the biggest sweetheart ever for not asking. But…" She turned to him, pausing there in the middle of the street, and took both his hands in her own. Ed hadn't put gloves on since he'd gotten back, and his automail was cool against her palm, but she didn't flinch away. "Earlier you asked what we are. And I've been thinking, y'know… If I'm serious about this, serious about _you_ , then I need to be completely open with you before I'd ever dare call you my boyfriend or anything. It's only fair."

Ed frowned at her. "Liss—no, that's not-"

"It _is_. And it's the only way I can feel right about this." Though it set her nerves twisting in her stomach, Lissa met his gaze and refused to look away, refused to back down from this certainty. "Because I _am_ serious about you. And it's not… I'm not hiding anything _bad_ , I've just…never learned to be completely comfortable with all of it."

He sighed and squeezed her hands, pulling her in closer, his gaze remaining gentle. "I won't make you. I know _you_ , I know the kind of person you are and the things you've done for me—and for Al. That's enough for me. But if this is something you need to do, in order to make this work… Then I'll hear it without judgment. Because _I'm_ serious about _you_ , Lissa. Just know…that nothing is going to change how I feel about you. Okay?"

"Okay," she agreed softly. "Then…we should go find Al. He's your little brother and he deserves to hear all this too, since I'm calling him the same thing."

Ed smiled softly and nodded. "Right."

—

Unexpectedly, they ran into Al on the way back to the hotel—Ed was bursting with everything he'd learned about Ishval, so they settled on a nearby fountain and he told Al Riza's entire story, some of which Lissa had caught and some she hadn't. She helped tell the story where she could, filling in a gap or two that Riza hadn't touched on but she herself had picked up over the years. It would lead into her own story well later on, she figured.

Lissa was…anxious, even though what she'd told Ed was true. She wasn't hiding anything bad. But she was just…used to these things being buried deep inside herself, and no amount of trust would keep her from being afraid to open up.

But she needed to. More than that, she _wanted_ to.

"That's terrible," Al murmured, when they'd finished the tale. "It's tough to even hear about Ishval."

Ed nodded wearily. "And she didn't hold back, even though I'm practically a kid."

Lissa couldn't help but smile, just a bit. He rarely admitted that much. "It's just how Riza is… I always go to her when I want somebody to be honest with me instead of babying me."

"I see why now." Ed's hand crept over to hers, his human fingers brushing atop hers just lightly. "They say an alchemist is one who seeks after the truth… And yet… I knew nothing about what had happened in Ishval."

 _Some of which is my fault._

"You think the Colonel's concerned about what happens after he gets what he wants?" Al wondered.

"I know I would be if I were him, y'know?" Ed sat forward, shoulders hunched, as he considered it. Lissa knew the worry—Mustang's ambitions were literally running him straight to prison, in truth. It was sort of…noble and stupid at the same time. "Hey, Al… What are you gonna do when you get your real body back? I mean…afterwards."

"Well, let's see…" Al looked up towards the night sky thoughtfully. "First thing, I really wanna eat some of Winry's apple pie."

Ed grinned at that one—it seemed to be Al's first priority, food-wise.

Then Al turned to him curiously. "And what about you?"

Lissa looked at Ed as well, wondering. He never talked about this, and never really let it sit on him too heavily. Most times she thought he wasn't even _trying_ to get his own body back, but for the promise he made to Al.

To her surprise, though, Ed twisted his mouth up and genuinely gave it some thought. "Hm… I've been so busy trying to get our bodies back that I haven't even thought about what happens next." Brightening, he hopped up from the fountain and stretched his arms in front of him, palms out. "I guess the first thing, I'll make some courtesy calls, let Granny and our teacher know we're all right."

Al bobbed his head. "Yeah, of course. They've both helped us out so much." His eyes brightened just a bit, that little sign that he was genuinely feeling better. "And you know what? They'll be smiling when they see us. That'll be nice… Just to see them smile."

Ed's own lips quirked up at the corners. "Yeah," he agreed softly.

"Just so you know, Ed," Lissa began, smirking as she stood up, "I'll fight you for Al's first hug back in his real body. And I _will_ win if I use my alchemy, so don't test me."

"Hey! That's so not fair, using your alchemy to win," Ed pouted, bumping her shoulder with his.

Al giggled at their antics, which was the point, really. "I know things are rough right now, but I'm starting to cheer up," he admitted, standing up beside Ed.

"That reminds me. I've found a trace of hope for us." Ed grinned up at him. "You know how our alchemy wouldn't work when we were under Central Command? Well, guess what? Liss and I found out today that it wasn't working aboveground either. Some local alchemists tried to fix the damage we left behind around the same time and couldn't do anything."

"But…" Al looked down at them both, confused. "What about Scar and that girl, Mei Chang? And your alchemy was doing _something_ too, Lissa."

Ed nodded quickly. "That's just it. They were the only ones who could use it. Now, we don't know about Scar, though his alchemy seems pretty unique. However, we can be certain that girl—Mei Chang, you said?—was using alkahestry, or at least a Xingese version of alchemy. And when Liss and I talked earlier…after everything, it seems pretty likely that her alchemy has some Xingese background to it too."

"Well if that's the case… They really are doing something else. Something different with their alchemy we don't know about…" Al looked down thoughtfully.

"Which means we haven't hit a dead end yet," Ed told him encouragingly, grinning.

"Oh, Al, I almost forgot…" Lissa looked up at him, craning her neck to see his eyes from this close. "Did you get to ask Lan Fan or that little girl about what I said earlier?"

He nodded quickly. "Oh, yeah! Um, I learned that apparently I have a _terrible_ Xingese accent, so…" Al rubbed the back of his helmet sheepishly. "But…we might wanna go back to the hotel before we…before we talk about all that."

Lissa felt Ed's fingers curl around hers. So he was worried, too. "Sure. We should be getting back anyway." There was no reason to press him—so Lissa just wrapped her arm around Ed's and headed back to the hotel with the boys, all chattering about nothing substantive… Just taking a little to enjoy being together as a team again. Being separated, even just for a night, was painfully difficult. She'd known on some level how much she relied on the boys, but experiencing that night without Edward, having to face the possibility that he might not come back… It made her _much_ more aware just how badly she needed them in her life. Both of them.

Gauging Al's mood, Lissa waited until they'd all settled in at the hotel to even consider asking again. She got back into her pyjamas, and Ed did as well, both opting to sit on one bed together—innocently, though, considering Al was in the room. Ed reclined into the pillows, propped against the headboard, and Lissa sat against the wall beside him, legs draped over his.

"So…" She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. "Are you gonna tell me what I managed to say in Xingese, or do I have to guess?"

Al, who had taken a seat facing them on the sofa, shifted uncomfortably. "Um, well… I talked to Lan Fan about it… And first, she said the same thing you did—that Ling gave her a message about the Philosopher's Stone."

Ed nudged one knee into the back of Lissa's. "We know you got that right, at least. That's a start."

"But then, um…" Al looked away suddenly, finding the wall on the right much more interesting than meeting Lissa's gaze. "Well, like I said, apparently I'm no good at a Xingese accent… So it was kinda hard to figure out if you said actual words or not, but…" His armor clanked as he shifted again. "Eventually Lan Fan figured it out…"

Lissa breathed out slowly, trying to calm herself. She couldn't fathom why Al was so anxious about it—she couldn't possibly have said more than a handful of words, so it couldn't be _that_ bad—but just the fact that she'd _spoken_ Xingese was…unsettling. "And…what did I say?"

"W-well… Lan Fan told me…that you said…um…" He wrung his hands together. "She said you were asking your mother not to hurt you. But…a little kid's version."

She pressed her hands into her face. Of all the things she'd expected…of any possible translation she'd considered… Never, _never_ had Lissa thought of _that_. A child's plea for her mother not to hurt her… It was…sickening, that somehow reading Xingese script had triggered some—some _relapse_ or something in her mind, dragging out some horrific memory or instinct from…

 _From when? Before I came to Central? Is this like those memories, the nightmares I've been having?_

"And she's…completely sure?" Ed whispered. He'd gripped down on her shoulder moments after Al finally admitted that—but Lissa could barely feel it. She could barely feel _anything_ outside her own shock. "Lan Fan was certain that's what Lissa said?"

"She even said it back for me, and I…" Al's voice broke. "I know that's what I heard." His armor clanked as he got up and crossed to them, his gait unsteady. "I'm so sorry, Lissa, I didn't want to upset you… I'm sorry… I shouldn't-"

"It's not your fault," she told him softly. It took all her energy just to peel her hands off her face. "Thank you…for being honest with me." Lissa drew her knees to her chest, across Ed's legs, and rested her chin there as she considered everything spinning around in her head. There were so few ways to interpret that, the phrase that had come tumbling from her consciousness… And none of them were anything less than horrible.

What was hiding behind that barrier of memory? What the hell had she repressed?

"Is it…ever weird for you two, being friends with someone who barely knows where she comes from?" Lissa asked, still staring across the room.

"It's not weird," Ed asserted, his voice firm. "It's never weird."

"We just…like you for who you are, Lissa," Al added quietly.

"Exactly, that's what I told her earlier."

She swallowed hard. "Even though I know everything about you? Even the stuff you don't like to tell anybody?"

Al sat down beside the bed and brought himself eye level with her. "It's not like you pried into our lives. You found out everything right at the start—and you didn't think badly of us because of it, either. That very first night, you were so…so _nice_ to us. How could we ever be upset that you know what we did when you never held it against us?"

"Because in three years—I guess four, technically—I've hardly told you guys anything about my life," Lissa murmured. "I mean…some of it, yeah, but… Not a lot. Not enough."

"What do you mean, not enough?" Al sounded so…perplexed. Honestly, it was kind of adorable how baffled he was. "What's going on, Lissa? You… You don't think that we're upset with you, right? You know we don't feel like you owe us anything…"

She nodded slowly, her chin bumping her knees. "I know, little brother. It's not like that. I just…" Lissa shut her eyes a moment, feeling as though Al was peering right down into her soul. "I dunno, I guess I'm just…at a point where I feel like I can talk about it. And it's weird, I've never really been comfortable with it, because it's…embarrassing. I'm embarrassed about how I was before I met you two. I was kind of a shitty kid."

"No way," Al protested, shaking his head. "We knew you as a kid."

Lissa peeked out at him. "Nuh-uh. Not when I was little. I was eleven when I met you, remember? But I came to Central when I was seven. I had four whole years of being a pain in everyone's ass before that."

Ed smirked and prodded at her shoulder with his forefinger. "That's hard to believe, y'know? Lieutenant Hawkeye said you were angry all the time, and I mean, I can see that, you have one hell of a temper… But you were _seven_. How much trouble could a seven-year-old be, huh?"

"How much trouble were _you_ at seven, Ed?"

"…Okay, fair."

Lissa sighed and stretched her legs back out, trying to figure out how to approach it. "I was just…angry because I felt like my parents had left me behind somehow, and I blamed them for ending up where I did. I was the youngest kid in the whole facility, I didn't get along with anyone, and…it was just…bad."

—

 _Lissa bared her teeth as she shoved back onto her feet, spitting blood onto the concrete floor. "Don't touch me!" she snarled, raising her hands in front of her._

 _The blonde girl across from her smirked. "Why? What are you gonna do, cry on me?"_

 _Rage built up in her chest—she threw her arms forward, her fingers curling, and that stupid girl went flying all the way across the dorm. Lissa didn't even care as one of the institution's alchemist guards ran over and shoved her sleeves back, exposing the transmutation circles she'd drawn onto her skin that morning, with the pen she'd stolen from her newest state alchemist handler._

" _Where did you get the materials to do this?!" the guard demanded, holding her aloft by her arm and shaking her. "Answer me!"_

 _She pursed her lips and refused to say a word. Nobody would touch her again. Not ever._

—

" _You can't keep doing things like this."_

 _Lissa kicked her feet underneath her chair, angry, still raging. She'd been forced to wear short sleeves for a week now, even though it was winter, because they didn't trust her not to draw transmutation circles on herself somehow—it was freezing, but she didn't care. It was worth it. Everybody in her block was afraid of her now, which meant nobody would hurt her again. That was all that mattered._

" _Lissandra. I'm saying this for your own good. You need to stop acting out."_

" _Why do you care?" she snarled back, finally rising to the bait Lieutenant Colonel Mustang had been laying out for her. "You're like everyone else! You wanna make me like all the other stupid state alchemists!"_

 _He glanced up from his paperwork, unbothered by her temper. Lissa had learned very quickly why the so-called Hero of Ishval wasn't afraid of her—she'd seen him snap his fingers once, just once, and recognized that he wouldn't be pushed into a corner like the low-level alchemists at the institution. Not that she hadn't considered trying. "Being like the other state alchemists wouldn't be a bad thing, you know. Your life would be much easier if you quit fighting it."_

" _I don't want to be here. Why does nobody care about that?" she demanded._

 _Mustang sighed wearily. "And where else would you be, Lissandra? At a massive, underfunded group home in the South Area? Shipped off to the north to be contained? Tell me, what would you prefer?"_

" _Anything but this!"_

" _I'm afraid that just isn't an option."_

—

"Mustang tried to…corral me, I guess. But I wasn't having any of it. I kept being so…violent, all the time, no matter what he or anyone else did." Lissa tapped her fingers together, watching that motion instead of the boys' faces. "It sounds stupid now… But I thought maybe if I fought hard enough, they'd just…let me go. I didn't think about what I'd do after."

"You were upset," Ed reasoned, shaking his head. "You'd lost your parents and most of your memories. _Nobody_ would know how to react in that situation."

She glanced sideways at him. "That still wasn't the way to react, though."

"But it was more than being upset… You were hurting, weren't you, Lissa?" Al was so…damned perceptive sometimes. "You were scared and alone…and lashing out was the only thing you could do to protect yourself. Because…you were afraid of being left behind again."

"I guess so," she mumbled. "If you aren't close to anybody, then they can't abandon you."

Ed tugged at the leg of her trousers until she looked at him fully. "Okay, but you clearly didn't just…keep fighting everyone. The Colonel never would've brought you to Resembool otherwise."

"Well… I _did_ keep fighting." The memory brought a smile to her face. "Just…not in the same way."

—

 _She hadn't seen Major Armstrong in two whole months. Lissa thought he was the person she hated least in all of Amestris, at least now—so she'd thought it was a kind of punishment, never assigning her to him. But when she saw him, she wondered if maybe he'd been angry with her. That was actually kind of scary, the idea of the Major being angry. It was possible, with how he'd shown up and just dragged her out of the institution right after roll call._

" _Where are we going, Major?" Lissa asked, struggling to keep up with his much longer strides._

 _He didn't so much as glance down at her. "You'll see."_

 _Lissa huffed to herself and crossed her arms, frustrated but unable to really turn him down. He was too big for her to fight, and she hadn't gotten to draw any transmutation circles that morning, so she was stuck._

 _Eventually, he led her into a separate building on the military grounds, near Central HQ—it looked like any other stupid military building, but this one was deserted and didn't seem to have any offices. Lissa tried to get her bearings as they went deeper into the space, down hallway after hallway, until she was hopelessly lost. Was that the point? What if he was going to do something bad to her?_

 _No, Major Armstrong wouldn't do that. Would he? She_ _had_ _gotten into a lot of trouble lately…_

 _Finally, though, he pushed open a big door at the end of a hallway and guided her through. "It has come to my attention that you have a bit of a temper problem, Miss Caito. I am of the opinion you require an outlet for your aggression."_

 _She stepped into the room and found herself gawking. It was an alchemist's practice room! With raw materials and tons of space and chalk for transmutation circles… She'd only read about gymnasiums like this one! "But—I thought I wasn't supposed to use my alchemy," Lissa pointed out, rounding on the Major as he followed her inside. "I got in trouble for fighting."_

 _He inclined his head. "For fighting with your fellow trainees, yes. However…" He raised his eyebrows at her. "I am a fully-fledged state alchemist. You won't receive any punishment for training with me."_

 _Lissa swallowed hard. He was scary… But… "Wait, so… I can use alchemy?"_

" _Naturally. How else would you learn to use it properly?"_

 _Major Armstrong handed her a pen, and she took it almost reverently, stunned somebody had actually_ _given_ _her something to make transmutation circles with—the first time that had happened since she'd come to the facility. As she began to ink her regular circles all along her forearms, Lissa stepped further into the room and spun absently on the spot, feeling out the ambient air currents. "So what are we-" She yelped and ducked, flattening herself to the floor as a sharpened projectile came racing over her head, cutting through the air where she'd been only seconds ago. "Hey!" she shrieked, bouncing back to her feet and scowling at the Major. "What was that for?! I wasn't ready!"_

 _He raised one of his fists, now covered in a sort of spike-knuckled metal plating, and gave her a sharp look. "That is no way to speak to your combat instructor, Miss Caito."_

" _It's Lissa," she insisted, glowering at him. "And I don't_ _have_ _a combat instructor. They won't let me, because I'm supposed to be too dangerous for anybody to go up against. Mr. Fletcher said I won't get to learn any combat until I'm ten."_

 _The Major rammed a fist into the ground, and stones shot up from the floor—which he quickly turned into more spiked projectiles midair. "No? Then what do you suppose I am?"_

 _Lissa squeaked and dodged again, the air around her lighting up as she ducked away from his attack. He was just as scary as she'd thought—but she didn't even think he was using his full abilities on her yet! She tucked into an awkward forward roll to get away from him, only to mess it up and land flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling. "Dammit," she mumbled._

 _He chuckled and hoisted her back up, pulling her several feet off the ground in the process. "It seems that although your alchemical skills are quite unique, and very strong, your technique is sorely lacking."_

 _Irritated, she twisted her hands and compressed the air between them, knocking the Major back and taking up a fighting stance. "I'm stronger than anyone thinks!"_

" _Oh? Why don't you prove it, then?"_

—

"I didn't realize you'd been training with Major Armstrong for that long," Al mused. "He's a little…overbearing, but that was a really nice thing for him to do."

Lissa bobbed her head. "He didn't have to do it, but he did anyway… I trained with him in a lot of basic combat, since after a while I stopped feeling like I had to use alchemy to prove myself. And it proved to the other state alchemists that I could handle some training, which was actually why I got to start going on actual missions instead of being trapped in the facility all the time. It was…a way to get all my anger out, and start channeling it into a sort of…goal, at least."

Ed gave her a thoughtful look. "And your goal was to get out, right?"

"At first…" Lissa smiled and leaned forward to rest a hand on both their heads. "Until you guys showed up. Mustang used to tell me I'd never be allowed to take my exams if my only reason for doing it was to get out of the facility. Meeting you two gave me an _actual_ goal—to help you get your bodies back."

"So…" Ed grinned up at her, golden eyes alight. "You're saying that deciding to help us was what turned everything around?"

"But what about _you_ , Lissa?" Al sat upright, something worried touching his voice. "What do _you_ want to do? Brother and I were talking about what we'd do after we got our bodies back… So… What will you do afterwards?"

Lissa felt an unexpected pang deep in her chest. What _would_ she do? "I guess…keep serving as a state alchemist," she admitted, shrugging. "Try to pay off my debt."

Ed and Al exchanged a pointed look—then Ed tugged his legs free and sat up on his knees, grabbing her shoulders tightly. "Okay, well… If you're so invested in us getting our bodies back…then _we'll_ be just as invested in getting you free of the military. Right, Al?"

"Right!" Al chirped, nodding eagerly.

She reeled back, stunned. "I—you'll what?"

"Well, I get a yearly stipend from the military, yeah? To do whatever I want with it. It's supposed to be for _research_ , but some of it is for personal use, too." Ed leaned back a bit and cast his gaze to the ceiling thoughtfully, while Lissa just stared at him, open-mouthed. "If I expense most of the food as _essentials_ and we spend a little less time in hotels, maybe use the dorms or visit Resembool here and there… I don't have to keep pretending I'm getting food for Al, either, since the damn Führer knows about the blood seal…"

"Ed, wait, no…" Lissa tried, but he was too focused.

"There's also the money you were putting towards automail repairs," Al pointed out. "If you manage to break it a little less, that might help, y'know."

Ed waved a hand at him. "Yeah, yeah… But that's not a guarantee, we know I don't have the best track record with that… Though I bet Winry would give me a discount for a good cause…"

"And you could use the money from that one extra grant you got, remember?"

"Oh, yeah! I forgot all about that one."

"So that'd make-"

"Stop!" Lissa pressed her hands over her face and shook her head, forcing back a rush of tears. "You can't do that, you can't do that for me," she whispered.

Al's heavy hand rested on her back. "Why not, Lissa?"

"Yeah, you just told us your whole entire—like, _purpose_ right now is helping us." Ed gently pulled her hands away from her face and smiled at her, so sweetly it almost broke her heart. "You're always telling me that it's okay to let somebody help you—so now it's your turn to let _us_ help _you_ , okay?"

She realized her hands were shaking when Edward tightened his fingers around hers and pulled her hands down against his legs, trying to still the tremors. "I—but I… You'd be practically _stealing_ from the military, and-"

"And the military is basically holding you hostage," he shot back. "You deserve better, Liss. Why shouldn't we do everything we can to help?"

"Because I…" _Because I'm supposed to help you. Because being held hostage by the military, even if it's technically by homunculi, is nothing compared to you losing your arm and leg, compared to Al losing his body… Because I have no right to ask anything from two boys who have suffered so much…_

But they had always been so damned adamant she didn't need to pity them—no matter that she did, no matter how awful she felt for them… Ed and Al staunchly maintained that what had happened to them was _their_ fault, and they refused to accept pity for it. The thought process was…stunningly mature, given how young they'd been when it happened… But even so, the thought of accepting what was essentially _charity_ burned unpleasantly in her stomach. Least of all from Ed and Al, who in her mind had lost so, so much more than her.

"Look, it's all useless anyway if we can't get the best of these damned homunculi and fix everything," Ed pointed out softly. "But at least let us _try_ , Liss. Because if we do manage it…then I couldn't bear for you to be trapped while Al and I have our lives together again. That's not fair."

"We'd want all our family to be able to celebrate together," Al told her, his voice so very gentle. "And that includes you."

Lissa sprang forward, overwhelmed, and grabbed Al in the best hug she could—but he wasn't expecting it, and the force of it bowled him right over. She found herself giggling, laughing through her tears as she extricated herself from the armor and sat there on the floor, with Ed peering down at them and grinning. "Okay," she agreed, rapping her knuckles on Al's chestplate. "You're right… If I wanna keep preaching to you two about accepting help, I guess I have to be willing to do the same myself."

"Exactly!" Ed slid down off the bed to join them on the floor, catching Lissa in his arms and ruffling her hair, despite her flailing and protests. "So if— _when_ we come out the other side of this, then we can all do whatever the hell we want. Right?"

She smiled at both of them, completely astounded by the whole thing, and managed to nod. "Right," she agreed softly.

Lissa just hoped she'd be worth it, in the end.

* * *

(Don't forget, one more coming in a few minutes!)


	34. New Directions

See? Just like I said! This one is a bit of setup, a kind of transition into the next phase of the story - Briggs is coming, after all. I'm looking forward to that entire section, too, so the sooner we get there the more fun it is for me! I hope you all enjoy these two chapters, I really do. By my estimation, we're sitting over the halfway mark now... This thing is a BEAST, seriously, and it's only because of the amazing people here and on AO3 that I'm not completely overwhelmed by this undertaking. So, as always, much love from Supernova here. Any comments and thoughts are beyond appreciated!

* * *

The next morning brought a damper to their spirits, as Mei Chang left Dr. Knox's early in the morning without a word about where she was going—apparently, since Mei and Ling were from opposing clans, there had been a big fuss between her and Lan Fan and the girl was attempting to be respectful to Dr. Knox's house—but Ed insisted they go searching for her, anyway. So Ed, Lissa, and Al set out into the city with drawings of Xiao Mei, the girl's little panda companion, looking for any sign of her…

And looking, and looking, and looking…

By sunset, they were exhausted and disheartened. Sitting on a bench at the heart of Central, Lissa rested her head on Edward's shoulder and muttered, "I hate admitting defeat, but…"

He sighed and nodded wearily. "Yeah. Seems like this search is getting us nowhere."

"Y'know, they might not be in Central anymore," Al pointed out, a touch dejected—even his spirits were down from such an exhausting, useless day.

A car pulled to a halt in front of them, idling at the curb—a rather familiar white one, in fact. Lissa wrinkled her nose as the window rolled down, and Mustang stared out at them. "Fullmetal, Starlight."

Ed stood up and gave him a baffled look. "Colonel?"

"Why are you always showing up to drag us places?" Lissa muttered, rising to her feet beside him.

Mustang smirked. "You're not hard to find." He jerked his head at the backseat. "Get in. I'll give you a ride back to your hotel."

Well…it was better than walking, she figured. So they piled in, Lissa and Ed stuck up front with Mustang while Al dominated the back, a conscious, unanimous decision to give the poor kid a little more room. Usually he worried so hard about squishing them that it seemed nicer to give him some space and ease his mind.

As they drove, the three filled Mustang in on their attempts to find Mei Chang, and _why_ they were so interested in the first place. He was technically their CO—and as an alchemist himself, he might actually have some perspective on all of it.

Though…they quite pointedly left Lissa's own past out of it.

"You don't say," he mused when they'd finished, glancing down at Al's drawing of Xiao Mei. "Xingese Alkahestry. Sounds promising." He passed the paper back to Ed. "I'll ask around and let you know what I find."

Ed stared balefully out the windshield. "Thank you, but I really don't wanna get any deeper in debt to you than I already am," he muttered.

Mustang's eyebrows turned down. "Speaking of, you owe me some money." He turned and stuck his hand out towards Ed expectantly, practically right into his face. "So how about you cough it up?"

"Eyes on the road!" Ed yelled, as the car swerved dangerously.

Lissa rolled her eyes. "Where did you learn to drive, anyway?" she grumbled to herself.

Frustrated, Ed glared sideways at Mustang, seeming a bit put out. "You remembered? Come on… How much did I even borrow? 500 cens?"

"It was 520 cens!" Mustang snapped. "Don't con me!"

"Just pay him before he crashes the car, Ed," Lissa sighed, earning a sneer from Mustang. "I borrowed thirty cens off him once for a couple candies at the corner store and he made me pay back every bit of it. He'll never let it go."

Mustang turned his nose up. "I was teaching you the value of money."

"Jeez, you're such a penny-pincher," Ed complained, irritated. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the coins, holding them for a moment—Lissa watched, baffled, as his expression turned sharper, more contemplative, and he closed his fist around the coins. "I'm just gonna hold onto this… But I promise to pay you back when you become Führer."

 _Oh. So that's where he's going with it._

Mustang's eyes narrowed sharply. "Who told you?" he demanded lowly.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye told me. And she told me about Ishval, too." Ed stuck the money back into his pocket and folded his arms. "Liss filled me in on some of it as well. Pretty interesting stuff, you know."

He sighed roughly. "Well, now you know."

"Now I know," Ed agreed quietly.

The car rolled to a stop outside the hotel, and Lissa hurried to unlatch the door, anxious that Mustang would ask the questions she _knew_ were burning in his mind—ones she was too exhausted to answer, too strung out to even contemplate explaining. She hopped out onto the pavement beside Ed and Al, folding her arms protectively over her own chest, as though she could create a barrier against his unending curiosity.

"Fullmetal," Mustang called, leaning towards the door before they could walk away. "Go on and keep that money for now," he murmured, smirking. "But you _will_ pay me back."

Ed grinned wryly. "All right. And when that day comes, I'll borrow some more change—and pay that back when this country's a democracy. But when that day comes, I'm gonna ask to borrow even more money from you."

"You're not planning to let me off the hook for a very long time, are you?" Mustang asked him wearily.

"Now you get it." Ed shut the door, hard, startling even Lissa. "And you better not worry the Lieutenant, either!" he warned.

Lissa smiled and caught his shoulder, pulling him away from the car gently. "Thanks for the ride, Colonel," she tacked on, a vague attempt to cover for Ed's little outburst—he was still a touch sore about the whole thing with Ishval, she figured.

Mustang gave her a genuine smile in return. "Sure. No problem. Oh, and Starlight…" He raised his eyebrows. "I better get those answers soon, you hear me?"

She flicked off a half-assed salute, earning a laugh before the Colonel drove away. So he wasn't upset—he wanted answers, but…apparently they were at a place where he trusted her to _give_ those answers eventually, and didn't feel like he had to wring them out of her. That was a definite improvement upon their relationship, considering past experiences.

"Man, I'm beat," Ed sighed, stretching his arms over his head and yawning. "C'mon, let's get to bed before one of us passes out."

"You mean before _you_ pass out," Al corrected wryly.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"I'm surprised Mustang didn't interrogate me on the spot," Lissa murmured, as they headed into the hotel and upstairs. "It must be bothering him, not to know what's going on."

"Maybe he figures we've handled enough crap recently," Ed suggested with a shrug.

She wrinkled her nose. "Or he's waiting for the right moment to pounce."

"That too."

They reached their hotel room and Ed pushed the door open—just as Lissa recoiled and rammed into Al's chestplate. _Familiar. Familiar!_

"You took long enough. I was getting tired of waiting," Fu complained from in the darkness, scaring the shit out of the boys.

Lissa pushed past them and sighed, pressing her arm down over Ed's when he took up a fighting stance. "You didn't have to hide in the darkness, Mr. Fu," she pointed out wearily. To the boys, she added, "Sorry. I wasn't paying attention, I sensed him too late."

"Sensed me?" Fu repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I…" She twisted her mouth up. _Nothing for it now._ "I guess you might've been right, back there in Xerxes. Ling kind of confirmed for me that I sense things through the Dragon's Pulse, or something like it—so there might be something to me having Xingese ancestry."

"Hmph. I did tell you." He folded his arms over his chest. "Where is the young lord? And my granddaughter?"

Lissa winced and glanced back at Ed reluctantly. "Er, well…"

Ed touched her shoulder lightly. "Ling's kind of…in the wind, for the moment. But we can take you to Lan Fan." When Fu opened his mouth to protest, Ed just shook his head wearily. "It's a long story, old man. We'll tell you on the way."

No matter their exhaustion, it was only right to take Fu by Dr. Knox's, so Lissa grabbed her backpack and they headed back out across town. Dr. Knox wasn't exactly pleased to see them, but he didn't turn them away, either—which he could've done, Lissa noted. No matter how much he griped, he could've said no to a lot of things that he let slide in the end.

Fu's reaction to Lan Fan's condition was…difficult to witness. Lissa had expected him to be upset—she had lost her arm, the poor girl—but it was still astonishing when he outright _slapped_ her.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Knox demanded, the only one with the wherewithal to step in and catch Fu before his emotions spiraled out of control and he hit Lan Fan again.

"How dare you call yourself a member of the chosen clan!" Fu snapped.

Dr. Knox struggled to hold him back. "Cut it out, old man, she hasn't recovered yet!" Fu yanked against him, and Knox pulled back even harder. "I told you to stop!"

Finally, all of Fu's energy seemed to run out and he sagged, staring down at Lan Fan in horror as though he'd finally really _seen_ her condition. "It's really gone," he breathed shakily. "Your arm… You lost your _arm_ …"

Lan Fan bowed her head. "Please forgive me, grandfather. I'm sorry," she whispered.

Fu approached her, and took the empty sleeve of her borrowed jacket in a trembling hand. "You fool," he choked, bringing the cloth to his face. "You damn fool…"

Lissa saw, out of the corner of her eye, Ed reach up and clench his own automail arm, fingers digging into the fabric of his jacket. She shifted closer and wrapped her arm around his back, pulling him into her and rubbing her fingers into his shoulder, just beside his port. _Don't put this on yourself too,_ she willed him, like she could make it so just by thinking it.

"Mr. Fu…" Ed looked up at the two of them, his gaze softening. "I promised Lan Fan that I would introduce her to an automail engineer."

Fu stared back at him rather fiercely. "We decline."

 _What?!_

"We appreciate such a kind gesture," Fu continued, "but you've already helped us enough. We can find an engineer on our own, if we must."

Al shook his head, denying it. "But—we have to do _something_!"

Fu was resolute, though. "The enemy has now clearly seen Lan Fan's face," he explained sternly. "We refuse to risk the life of your engineer friend."

Lissa knew Winry would do it—risk or no risk—but she couldn't help but respect the decision. It wasn't their place to interfere if this was what Fu and Lan Fan wanted to do, if they felt they needed to look elsewhere. Still… "I grew up around plenty of soldiers with automail," Lissa spoke up, a bit uncertain but unwilling to stay quiet. "I never met any of the engineers they used personally, but I know plenty of names. It might give you a place to start, at least, and most of them would probably be used to pretty mixed clientele."

Though it wasn't much, Fu inclined his head to acknowledge her offer. That was enough.

"All right, then," Ed agreed softly. "Thank you."

Fu approached Dr. Knox then. "You're the only reason that my granddaughter is still alive," he murmured, bringing his hands together and bowing at the waist. "You have my gratitude."

"What?! Do I look like the kind of doctor that wants gratitude?!" Knox railed.

Yet it was for nothing, because Lan Fan rose and crossed to him as well, smiling softly. "Thanks, Dr. Knox," she told him kindly. "Thank you for saving me."

Knox bristled at the display. "Eh, just clear out already!" he snapped, screwing his face up in distaste. "I'm not such a pushover that I'm gonna let you take my bed for an extra night! Now get out!" he muttered, turning and heading back into his bedroom.

Lissa released Ed and crossed to Lan Fan, slinging her backpack off her shoulder and setting it at her feet. "Before you go, Lan Fan… I brought you a change of clothes. I figured you wouldn't want to be stuck in the same pyjamas to travel in, y'know…" She knelt down and pulled out what she'd brought, just a simple shirt and trousers, both in black, transmuted to what she thought was approximately the Xingese girl's size. Lissa rose and passed them over, catching the other girl's startled look and wincing. Was that…not the right thing to do?

"Thank you," Lan Fan murmured, holding the clothes close to her abdomen. "You…you've all been so kind to me."

She smiled and gently touched Lan Fan's shoulder. "We're happy to do it." She was going to step back, to return to the boys—but a hand on her wrist stopped her.

"Lissa…" Lan Fan gazed at her with those dark eyes, like inkwells. "I hope you find answers, for the questions that plague you. What Alphonse asked me…" Her expression softened, turned more melancholic. "I hope you remember, whatever you might learn…that what you have now is more than enough to make up for any darkness in your past."

Lissa swallowed hard. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Lan Fan."

—

Central's library—the remaining branch, not the one that had been burned down—was supposed to be the best one in all of Amestris. It was certainly huge, and well-organized, but that didn't make Lissa any less frustrated with it at the moment.

"How the _hell_ is this possible?" she grumbled, sinking irritably into a chair across from Al.

He peered up at her from the book he'd been reading. "What's wrong, Lissa?" he asked curiously.

"First, your brother sits like an idiot when he's researching, and I'll kill my back if I sit with him," Lissa complained, ticking it off on her finger. That much was true—Ed had settled on the _floor_ amid a pile of books, and it was prohibiting her from being anywhere near him, which was frustrating. "Second—and this is really why I'm pissed—this stupid library doesn't have a single book written in Xingese!"

"Wait, it doesn't have _any_?" Al sat up straighter, confused. "But… That's really weird, why wouldn't there be anything?"

She waved her hands helplessly. "I have no idea. We're supposed to be allies, so we have culture sharing and all that—but I looked _everywhere_ , Al. I even asked up front and they said there's nothing here. I was hoping maybe I could read something more useful in the original Xingese, something that wouldn't have been translated, but…"

"That could've been helpful," he admitted reluctantly. "Isn't that kind of suspicious to you? For there to be _nothing_ at all in Xingese. Not even a single book."

Lissa nodded, her ire fading away to a thread of defeat. "I was really hoping to put that weird ability to use, too. Especially since every time I pass Ed he seems more and more frustrated with all of this. We just…don't seem to have any information on alkahestry here." She sighed and folded her hands atop the table. "What about you, Al? Are you having any luck?"

Al shook his head dejectedly. "No. I can't find any details about alkahestry. I should've asked Mei more about it when I was at Dr. Knox's place."

"We'll figure it out," Lissa encouraged him, hating to see him down. "I mean…" But she trailed off, distracted by the pins-and-needles sensation beginning around the sides of her neck—just as a little boy peered over the edge of the table just beside Al. She frowned at him, baffled. Were they causing that much of a spectacle?

"You're wearing a full suit of armor," the boy breathed, grinning hugely. "Does that mean you're the Fullmetal Alchemist's brother?"

Al stared at the boy in equal confusion. "Uh…yeah, I am."

"Then _you're_ the Starlight Alchemist!" the boy added, fixating that doe-eyed look on Lissa.

She nodded slowly. "That's me."

"Awesome!" the boy cheered loudly, bouncing on his toes and swinging his arm wide. He kept giggling as he regarded Al, like he'd just gotten to meet his idol or something.

Lissa winced as she caught sight of the other library patrons staring down at them, at the boy speaking full-voice and being _way_ too loud for the location. Where the hell were his parents, anyway? What was he doing wandering around a library like this at his age?

"Thanks," Al mumbled uncertainly. "But…maybe you should be a bit quieter." He brought his finger to the mouth of his armor, trying to shush the boy.

The boy's eyes shot wide and he pressed a hand over his mouth. "Oh! I'm sorry!" He leaned in and whispered, "So…what're you studying? Somethin' cool?"

Ever the brotherly type, Al was only too happy to reply. "It's called alkahestry," he explained easily, though Lissa wished he wouldn't just spill their secrets to everybody in the vicinity. Besides, this kid… There was something weirdly familiar about him, somehow, though she couldn't figure it out yet. Did he remind her of someone?

"What's alkahestry?" the little boy asked curiously.

"It's alchemy, from the country of Xing."

 _Dammit, Al. We really need to have a talk about keeping secrets._

"Ooh… It's from Xing, huh?" The boy stepped closer and stared down at the assortment of books Al had gathered, eyes still a bit too wide. Then he looked back up at Al and Lissa in confusion. "But you three are already good enough at alchemy to practice here in Amestris," he pointed out. "Our country's a major alchemical power, isn't it? We've got all sorts of talented alchemists. So why would you guys look into the kind of alchemy they practice in a foreign country?"

Lissa exchanged a sort of frantic look with Al. Even he knew they couldn't explain _why_ they were so interested in alkahestry—it could get back to Bradley, through some spy or another… And it sounded suspicious even without that little detail. "It's—a specialty that focuses on medicine," Lissa blurted, giving Al what she hoped was a poignant look.

He bobbed his head quickly. "Yeah! Alkahestry's supposed to have a lot of medical uses. So, we're just doing some research to see if any of its properties can be used to save people's lives."

Thankfully, that seemed to work—the boy grinned and went doe-eyed again, clapping his hands together excitedly. "Oh, wow! That's just what I would expect an Elric brother to say!"

 _Who the hell is this kid? He knew that Al's the one in the armor, he knew who I was, and he talked about Amestris like that… Like a damned politician… What's his deal? Is he just…that excited to meet us or is something else going on?_

"Al! Lissa!"

She was jerked out of her thoughts as Ed ran up, yelling their names and grinning widely. "Get ready, we're leaving!"

"Quiet, brother!" Al chided, jumping to his feet. "This is a library!"

Lissa stood up and eyed him, wondering why he was so…excited. And where the hell he'd gotten new information, since the last time she'd passed him he looked about ready to rip his own hair out in frustration. "Where are we going?" she asked.

He shook his head quickly. "Look, don't worry about it. I'll tell you everything on the way. For now, let's just get moving. First we'll need to stop by the hotel, and…" But Ed trailed off as the boy approached him, staring with wide eyes and breathing heavily. "Uh, who is this kid?" he asked, giving a baffled look to Al and Lissa.

"Mr. Armor called you _brother_ ," the boy giggled, grabbing Ed's hand tightly. "Does that mean you're Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist?"

Ed grinned at him, always happy to get recognized as himself. "Yeah!"

"Aw, cool!" the boy crowed. "You are a tiny alchemist, just like everyone says! Even your girlfriend's taller than you!"

 _Oh, no._

"What was that?" Ed hissed, dropping straight into rage.

Lissa grimaced at him. "Ed, don't-"

"You… _brat_ … Say it again," he warned, resting his bare automail hand on the boy's oblivious little head, a clear threat. "Once…more… I'll send you _flying_! Hear me? Your little body'll go straight out into space!"

"That's true too!" the boy laughed, unafraid. "You hate being called small, just like everyone says!"

The air displaced around them—and Lissa jumped in surprise as bodyguards seemed to materialize from nowhere, peeling from wherever the hell they'd been hiding, all fully armed and pointing guns directly at Ed. She raised her hands, fingers curled, ready for a fight. Like _hell_ she'd let him get fucking shot!

"Step away from Master Selim!" one guard ordered, glowering down at Ed.

 _Selim… Master Selim?! Bodyguards and a politically-inclined mind… Oh fucking hell!_

Edward had just threatened _Selim Bradley_ , the Führer's adopted son!

"No, wait!" Selim cried, waving his hands frantically. "Don't shoot him!"

Lissa lowered her hands as the guards put their guns down, her heart beating hard in her throat. Dammit. Of all the kids they could've encountered…it had to be freaking Selim Bradley?! How was their luck that bad?!

"Uh… Master Selim?" Ed parroted, arms raised in a sort of surrender. So he'd put it together too. "Are you Selim Bradley?"

Al recoiled in shock. "Selim? The Führer's son?"

Selim beamed and nodded at them. "Yeah, that's me!" he chirped.

Lissa exchanged a horrified look with Edward. What the fuck had they gotten themselves into here? Selim Bradley. This was about as bad as it could get.

"I'm sorry about my guards," Selim chirped, oblivious to their panic. "I'm really glad they didn't shoot you!"

"Y-yeah…" Ed slowly lowered his hands, swallowing visibly. "Me too."

Selim grinned up at Ed and grabbed his hand. "Here, come with me!"

Somehow, at the hands of the Führer's son, with bodyguards at their backs, the three were coerced across the military grounds—all the way to the Bradley estate. Selim chattered the whole way, giddy with happiness, while Lissa felt like she'd eaten something rotten. The Führer's damned _house_. Yet it was largely impossible for a couple state alchemists to say no to their commander in chief's adopted son—even if Bradley himself _was_ a homunculus.

"I'm so sorry," Mrs. Bradley apologized kindly, once they'd all been sort of corralled into the sitting room by Selim's unending enthusiasm. She and her adopted son were seated in armchairs across a low coffee table, opposite the sofa where Ed, Al, and Lissa had taken up residence. "It's just that Selim's been in awe of you for such a long time, Edward."

Ed blinked at her, stunned. "Huh? Me, really?"

"You and Lissandra, really," she explained. "You're the youngest state alchemists in history, you see."

"Selim… Are you interested in alchemy?" Al wondered, spotting the connection.

The boy dipped his head. "Yes!" he confirmed eagerly. "My dream is to learn how to practice it. And after that, I want to become a state alchemist, just like Ed and Lissa."

A sick knot twisted in Lissa's stomach, while Ed grinned and turned a touch bashful under the praise—it didn't hold the same unpleasant connotation for him, she knew. But a small child _wanting_ to become a state alchemist just…felt so awful to her. Even though she'd never regret meeting Ed and Al, Lissa still wished she'd at least had the choice to pick a different path. She couldn't imagine an eager little boy like Selim actually wanting to get involved in all that.

"And then I'll be able to help my father out, as well!" Selim added brightly.

"Yeah," Ed agreed softly, his mood dropping. "Führer Bradley." Lissa touched his left arm lightly, a warning—they needed to be careful here. "Tell me, Selim. Do you get along with your father? Do you like him?" he asked, keeping his tone light, not giving away any of his real intentions.

Selim's happiness didn't falter. "Yeah, of course!"

Ed nodded slowly. "And what kind of man is he?"

 _Careful…_ Lissa pressed down just a bit on his forearm. They couldn't risk anything getting back to Wrath.

"An _amazing_ man," Selim told them. "His job is more demanding than anybody else's in the world! He spends all day, every day thinking about the people of this country."

Ed gave a fake grin. "Of course he does," he laughed, a bit strained.

"The Führer's duties must keep him very busy all the time," Al observed softly, his tone far more sympathetic than his brother's.

"That is true," Mrs. Bradley admitted, with a bit of a sigh. "It's something he always insists upon. He's determined to work himself ragged. At his age, I'd prefer if he took it a little easier." Her smile turned a touch sad. "It's nothing new… He's always been devoted to his work. That's what he's good at—but where women are concerned…" She brightened and added, "I'm afraid he's a bit of an oaf. The first time we met, he made me so angry I actually slapped him."

Lissa clenched her teeth so her jaw didn't drop. Mrs. Bradley…slapped _Wrath_ and lived to become his _wife_?!

"But it worked out for the best," she continued, oblivious. "He asked me out after that, and our first date was amazing!" She blinked, looking startled at herself, as though she'd just…gotten caught up. Lissa knew the feeling well. "Oh, sorry. Listen to me, babbling like a little schoolgirl," she laughed.

 _This woman… She doesn't feel anything but human,_ Lissa realized, tapping into her senses. _This whole place reeks of homunculus but Mrs. Bradley… She's just…human. How did she get wrapped up in this? How did she become the Führer's wife? She can't know the truth, not talking about him like that…_

"And what about you two?" Mrs. Bradley asked, beaming across at Ed and Lissa. "I've heard you're very close nowadays. That must be quite a story, I bet."

"Us?" Ed almost squeaked, turning red in the face. "I—we…"

"It's nothing too interesting. We met on an assignment," Lissa explained quickly, grinning at his embarrassment. There wasn't any harm, the homunculi knew all about them and this story wasn't exactly a secret either… She couldn't help but pity this woman, too, isolated among homunculi, at the top of the food chain but totally unaware… Everything could crumble down around her in a heartbeat and she'd never see it coming. The least Lissa felt she could do was indulge her a bit. "I grew up in the young alchemists' institution here in Central, and I met Ed and Al when I was out on an assignment with Colonel Mustang, almost four years ago now. When Ed became a state alchemist, he took me on as a sort of trainee, and I've stayed with them ever since."

Mrs. Bradley gave her a curious look. "And you recently were certified, isn't that right?"

Lissa nodded. "Mmhmm. Now Ed and I are officially partners, actually." She smiled and squeezed Ed's hand tightly. "It's not…always the easiest job, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

"I'm glad to hear it," Mrs. Bradley told her warmly. "But when did you and Edward start dating, Lissandra? It's not exactly a secret, you know… It's very difficult to hide young love, even from someone who's been out of the game as long as I have."

She swallowed as her cheeks heated up. "Oh, well we…"

Lissa's senses lit up, cutting her off as they blared warnings through her mind.

"Dad's home!" Selim cheered, hopping out of his chair and beaming as Führer Bradley himself walked into the sitting room.

Mrs. Bradley smiled up at him. "Hi, dear," she greeted.

Selim took off running across the room. "Hello, daddy!" he laughed, flinging himself right into the Führer's arms.

Lissa thought she might be sick as he leaned down to hug Selim back. It was…just awful to see this display, to see him _humanized_ when they knew the truth, knew his real identity as Wrath. "Well, hello there, my little one."

"What are you doing back home?" Mrs. Bradley asked him curiously.

"I had some free time for a change, so I thought I'd check in on my family," Wrath explained. "And I also happened to hear the Starlight Alchemist, and the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother were paying us a visit."

 _So he came to make sure we weren't causing trouble. Shit._

Ed feigned a smile. "Hello, sir."

"Long time no see," Al added—a cover for the terrifying meeting they'd had with him recently, no doubt.

"Long time?" Wrath repeated curiously. "I just saw you three at Central Command, right?" He threw back his head and laughed, hiding the slip and rubbing it in their faces at the same time. He had enough power and control over them to admit he'd seen them, without worrying about the reality of what had happened in that meeting. It was made even worse when he took over the armchair Selim had vacated, poured himself some tea, and _joined_ their little group in the sitting room.

"So, you ran into these three at the library, Selim?" the Führer asked, his tone not giving anything away—but he was fishing for information, clearly.

"Yep!" Selim confirmed.

Lissa tightened her hand around Ed's—she'd been too startled to let go earlier. What the hell were they supposed to do here? Did Wrath want something from them, or was he just…screwing with them?

"Are you wondering why he doesn't look like us?" Wrath questioned softly, catching the fierceness Ed couldn't seem to shake from his gaze.

 _That_ did it, though. "N-no, sir," Ed stammered, and raised his hand sort of placatingly. "It didn't cross my mind."

 _True. We already know the truth about Selim being adopted._

"Well, it's because we aren't related by blood," the Führer continued, unaffected by Ed's reply.

Mrs. Bradley nodded, still so very kind in her demeanor. "We weren't able to have any children of our own," she explained. "So we adopted Selim, and he's our son now."

Wrath petted Selim's head fondly. "I'm proud of my boy. He's grown into a fine, devoted son."

"Would ya cut it out already, dad?" Selim laughed. "You're embarrassing me!"

"But it's the truth!" Wrath told him, grinning.

Lissa struggled to even look at the scene, keeping her face carefully marshaled into a pleasant expression while she focused on the far wall, avoiding really _seeing_ the display. He was mocking them. She could feel it down in her stomach.

"What's wrong, Elric?" Wrath asked suddenly, staring across at Ed.

She felt him flinch beside her. _Edward wears everything on his face,_ Riza had said—and that statement had never been more dangerous than it was in that moment. Ed wasn't hiding his discomfort at all, no matter how hard he tried, and there was no covering for the obvious unease written all over his expression.

Al lifted a hand quickly, trying to cover for his brother. "Oh, uh, it's just that—we never see you except at the command center," he blurted. "So this is kind of…you know…"

"New," Lissa offered in an attempt to help. "It's new for us."

"It's a side of you we're not used to seeing, that's all," Ed explained, finally getting past some of his apprehension.

"I see. But as you can tell, even a man like me has a family waiting for him at home." Somehow it sounded like a threat coming from Wrath, even spoken in a fairly benign tone, a veil in place for Selim and Mrs. Bradley. "I'm sure, of course, it's quite different from yours."

Lissa felt Ed's hand clamp down on hers, trembling faintly. _He threatened our family,_ she thought, as she squeezed his hand back. _But we won't let him do a damned thing, Ed._

With that, Wrath got up from the chair and began to walk away, his threat delivered, warning in place now.

"Aw, daddy," Selim complained. "You're leaving already?"

"Yes. You know I have duties to get back to, Selim." Wrath didn't pause until he reached the door to the sitting room, though Selim darted around his mother's chair to peer at him sadly. "Please, make yourselves at home." Wrath looked back over his shoulder at Ed and Lissa, smiling. "You're welcome anytime, state alchemists."

Lissa let out a slow breath as he left the room. That…was terrifying.

—

Lissa stood above her new purchases, eyeing them critically. "Let's see… We'll need to bring extra layers for the north… Fur is good for warmth… So are coats with actual buttons, but…" She glanced over at Al, who had settled onto their hotel room's sofa and was watching her fuss over hers and Ed's clothes without interfering. "Ed was adamant he wouldn't change his outfit much, right?"

Al giggled and nodded. "Yeah. Brother insisted he wanted to keep his _style_."

"What a dummy. Going all the way up to Briggs like that…" She rolled her eyes. "He'll freeze in North City. So." Lissa set Ed's cloak out and set some of the new red fabric she'd bought earlier onto it—warm red wool in the closest possible color she could find. She pressed her hands to the material and transmuted it, lining his usual cloak with an extra layer of wool throughout the whole thing. It made his cloak a touch bulkier, but he'd just have to deal with it. Then, as her final touch, she lined the hood and collar with white fur, something she figured he'd appreciate since he liked a little flair to his clothing. He practically wore a _costume_ , after all.

With the most difficult part out of the way, Lissa set about transmuting new clothes for her and Ed both, adding layers to some preexisting pieces and making brand-new ones as well. She knew her boyfriend—she was trying to get more comfortable with the term—wouldn't change his boots, either, so she even made new socks, thicker ones for a colder climate.

North.

They were going _north_.

Alex had passed on a tip from Mustang, indicating that Mei Chang had been seen heading north, so that's where they were going. She didn't think she wanted to know how Mustang had found out, especially since he couldn't be bothered to tell them himself, but she appreciated the help all the same. But…she just wished they didn't have to go into the damned freezing cold.

"Oh, shit," Lissa muttered, glaring down at the unfinished coat in front of her.

"What's the matter, Lissa?" Al's armor creaked as he peered over.

She sighed and held up the grey coat she'd been transmuting. "I didn't get enough material to line it," she explained, shaking her head. "I thought I had enough… But I used more than I thought on my stupid trousers and now I'm screwed on the most important bit."

"I can run out and get you some," he offered, rising to his feet. "I know you still have more to do, so that way you don't have to stop everything just for this."

Lissa gave him a grateful smile. "I hate asking…but you're a total lifesaver, little brother. That'd be amazing."

He crossed to see exactly what material she had, double-checked it, and then headed out with her pocket watch in tow. They had a train to catch in a couple hours, so there was plenty of time—but she definitely would've been rushing if she'd had to go running out to get more fabric. Ed was busy showering, trusting her with all the clothes, and honestly… Lissa would've begrudged him leaving her all the work, except she knew damn well he wouldn't be as thorough. She'd rather do it herself and make sure the dummy didn't freeze to death.

By the time Ed finished in the shower and stepped out, half-dressed with his hair still wet and sitting on a towel thrown around his shoulders, Lissa had finished everything—even the full-finger gloves she'd been forced to transmute for herself. It'd stifle her alchemy, but that was better than losing her fingers to frostbite.

"Where's Al?" Ed asked, looking around the room curiously.

Lissa folded up the last of his clothes and set them into the suitcase, leaving her half-finished coat sitting on the bed beside it, and closed the case to make sure everything still fit. "Your brother is being more helpful than you," she teased him. "Al went to grab me a little extra material, since I didn't get enough to finish lining my coat."

Ed stuck out his tongue and crossed to the dresser, where he could check himself in the mirror as he toweled his hair off. "You offered, y'know."

"Only because you'd never do it right without me hovering," she shot back.

He grinned. "Okay, true."

Lissa held out his cloak for inspection, once he'd finished with his hair, remaining conspicuously shirtless—she was trying to focus on anything _but_ that, though. "I know, I know, I screwed with your cloak," she laughed as he wrinkled his nose. "C'mon, Ed. You'd freeze if I didn't do _something_."

Ed sighed and twisted it in his hands, eyeing the new lining with a little distaste. "Yeah, okay, fine," he conceded. "Thanks for doing all of this. Really."

"It's nothing, honestly." Lissa sat on the bed and rested back on her hands, shrugging faintly. "I'm so used to transmuting your clothes at this point, after all the zillions of times you've gotten your cloak ruined. Besides…" She smiled up at him. "I don't mind looking after you a bit. At least this way I know for sure you won't freeze up there."

He quirked that crooked smile she loved so much and leaned in over her, knees to either side of her legs on the bed, and kissed her—first soft and sweet, but then his demeanor shifted, just minutely, and Lissa's stomach twisted into knots as he trailed his hand up her side, fingers resting just at the bottom of her ribcage. She smiled into his kiss and set her hand against his chest, with enough pressure to make him lean back from her. "Ed," she murmured, smirking, "you do realize Al could get back at any minute, right?"

Ed shrugged and grinned a bit roguishly. "Eh, he'll be gone a bit longer."

"This is because we had a brush with death today, isn't it?" she asked dryly.

"Maybe. Does it bother you?"

Lissa just responded by sliding an arm around his back and pulling him down to her. Ed leaned down eagerly, not a trace of resistance, kissing a path from her lips down to the pulse on her neck, nipping lightly with his teeth. Her breath caught in her throat, heart racing in her chest—then faster still when he slid his hand further up, her shirt riding up and exposing her abdomen, every touch slow and careful enough that she could stop him if she wanted. But…she didn't want to. Lissa trusted him, knew Ed wouldn't push her too far, knew she had nothing to fear with him… So she responded in kind, tracing her fingers up to his shoulders, following the contours of his muscles, taking a moment to just…exult in _him_ , in the fact that Ed was with her, that she had the freedom and ability to be with him like this.

"Agh!"

She shrieked as Ed toppled off her, rolling right off the edge of the bed, and frantically tugged her shirt back into place, startled into panic by Al's sudden reappearance. "I'm so sorry, Al!" she moaned, absolutely mortified.

"I was gone fifteen minutes!" he told them indignantly, standing in the open doorway with a hand across his eyes.

Edward rubbed at his head and grimaced. "Sorry, Al. Can you blame me, though?"

Lissa flung a pillow at him. "Ed!" she scolded. He yelped as she tossed another pillow at him, then finally hopped up and flung the entire blanket down over him, leaving him flailing there on the floor. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, noticing it had gotten snarled and messy during their brief…sojourn. "We didn't scar you, did we?" she asked Al sheepishly.

He sighed and dropped his hand, reluctantly shaking his head. "Maybe try to be a _little_ more discreet, though," he muttered.

She inclined her head. "We'll do our best," she told him.

Yet at the same time, Ed's blanket-muffled voice rang out, "No promises!"

Lissa threw another pillow at him.

—

With all the distractions and delays, they only _barely_ made their train bound for North City—it had begun moving before they even found their seats. By a stroke of luck, the found an unoccupied pair of benches and took them over immediately, Al on one side and Ed and Lissa on the other. She draped her legs over Ed's lap, and suddenly it was just like old times, like the years they'd spent riding on trains everywhere in Amestris, searching for the Philosopher's Stone, without all this insanity hanging over their heads… Before homunculi and chimeras and vengeful Ishvalans…

"So Alex gave you a letter of introduction?" Lissa asked, watching Ed turn the little envelope over in his hands contemplatively.

Ed nodded. "Yeah. He wasn't sure if it'd help or not, but I guess it's worth a shot."

"I know you're close with the Armstrongs, Lissa… Do you know the Major's sister?" Al asked curiously.

"I've never met Olivier, actually," she admitted. "She's been up at Briggs the whole time I've known Alex. But he…always said she was a bit scary." Lissa shrugged it off. "I'm hoping she'll give us a chance since I'm close with her family, though." It was odd for Alex to be so…intense about his own sibling, considering she'd met the rest of his family—his mother and father, his two older sisters besides Olivier, and his younger sister Catherine too. They were all lovely.

"Oh!" Ed dug into his pocket for a moment. "I almost forgot, Liss. Major Armstrong gave me a letter for you too." He withdrew a slightly more crumpled envelope and passed it to her.

Lissa took the envelope and opened it immediately, noting the fancy script on the front— _LC_ , her initials, a touch more formal than just her nickname. It was odd Alex had written her a letter, but then again, she'd missed him at the library and he'd had no guarantee of running into her again.

 _Lissa,_

 _I hope you are well. If my guess is correct, then you will be traveling north immediately with the Elric brothers. I regret being unable to see you off, but given the situation in Central at the moment, it is important I focus on the task at hand._

 _You will meet my older sister, if you venture north to the Briggs Fortress. I warn you—she is not like my other sisters. Olivier is fiercer and much more difficult to earn respect from. Remain cautious. If you earn her respect, she will treat you as one of her own soldiers, but you will find her to be nothing like what you expect. Take care._

 _Look after yourselves, the boys included. Dress warmly. Cover your fingers._

 _I will see you when you return to Central._

 _-Major Alex Louis Armstrong_

 _PS: I'm happy to hear about yourself and Edward. Please let me know if he ever treats you poorly and requires a good beating._

"What'd he say?" Ed asked curiously, visibly restraining himself from reading over her shoulder.

Lissa smiled and tucked the note into her trouser pocket. "Not much. He told me Olivier's a bit different than the rest of the family—that's not really surprising, though, she'd have to be to hold her post up at Briggs. And he told us to look after ourselves, I think he's worried about us going up to the north alone."

Al giggled. "Aw. The Major's a big softie, isn't he?"

"Oh, and Ed—he threatened to kick your ass if you ever treat me badly."

Ed squeaked and buried his face in his hands. "Shit. I'm so dead."

Lissa grinned and patted his back. "Don't worry, he's not gonna come hunt you down or something. He said he was happy to hear about it, besides." She knew, even if the boys didn't, that it was Alex's way of letting her know he was looking after her—she doubted he was _really_ concerned that he'd need to kick Ed's ass.

" _Anyway_ ," she began pointedly, nudging Ed out of his state of fear, "hopefully we'll track that girl down and get some answers. Otherwise we'll have to try and make it to Xing next, I guess."

"Ugh, I hope we don't have to," Ed whined. "Even with your help I might burn to death."

Al sighed wearily. "It's a shame the train tracks keep getting messed up—otherwise we could just take a train there and it wouldn't be a problem."

That was true—though there was technically a railroad going between Xing and Amestris, the tracks were constantly affected by the shifting sands of the desert. Even though both countries were at peace with each other, neither particularly wanted to expend the manpower and effort it would require to build that infrastructure, so for the time being, horseback and walking was the only real way to go between. And by sea, but that required leaving Amestris by a different route, which made it even more dangerous.

"Well, for right now we should just focus on finding her _before_ she leaves Amestris," Lissa reasoned. "If we manage that, then we never have to worry about crossing to Xing."

"Ugh. Fingers fucking crossed," Ed muttered, scowling out the window.

It didn't take long for Ed to fall asleep, as always, but Lissa wasn't tired in the slightest—so she and Al got out a deck of cards and played a few time-wasting games, keeping themselves occupied while Ed snored softly, his head tilted against the side of the train.

"So, Al…you aren't…" Lissa eyed the cards in her hand a moment, buying herself a little time. "Upset, are you?"

He looked up at her in surprise. "Upset? About what?"

She shrugged faintly. "Me and Ed. I dunno, we worried that it might be…awkward for you, y'know? Since we're all constantly in each other's space."

Al giggled at her. "No, it's okay. I like seeing brother happy, besides."

"Is he?" Lissa asked quietly, looking sideways at Ed—he was sleeping hard, like he always did, snoring softly with his mouth hanging open. Seeing him at peace like this had always been lovely…but now, with where their lives had gone, it meant even more to know he felt safe enough to make himself completely vulnerable. "You'd know better than me… Sometimes I think I just…make things so much harder on him. I wasn't going to—to act on any of this, not until all the craziness died down… Until we could all be safe… I thought it'd make it harder to have something else to focus on."

"I know things are difficult right now…but I think…I think it does make him happier," Al told her honestly. "Y'know… That was kinda silly of you, Lissa. Thinking you could just stop that. I mean, I've known for years that brother liked you. I always used to tease him about it."

"You _what_?" She nearly dropped her cards in shock. "Since _when_? What—how did I not notice?!"

Al laughed, the sound ringing in his armor. "I dunno. A couple years at least. You really didn't see it? I didn't think he was very good at hiding it."

"Well he…" Lissa had a flash of memory—Ed blushing as she pulled on the edge of his shirt, newly ruined in Liore… The slow and steady way he'd begun to use those little gestures, holding her hand, resting his palm against the small of her back, just…being close… It had all come about so gradually that she'd accepted it as normal, but… What if it wasn't? What if it had all come from him nurturing his attraction towards her?

Lissa felt her face grow hot as she considered it. Had they really been gravitating towards each other from the very start?

"I guess…I just…never considered it," she mumbled.

 _Not until we went back to Resembool… Until something just…clicked. That's the first time I wanted to kiss him._

Lissa smiled and leaned over to brush a piece of Ed's hair from his face, where it had drifted in his sleep. "As long as you're okay with all of it, little brother."

"I am. I mean…" He tilted his head to one side. "It's not really my business, though, is it?"

"Of course it is. How you feel matters to us." She stretched across and patted Al's knee. "It's like I said…you're my family too, so I care how you feel about it. Besides… You're kind of stuck with us, the least we can do is be mindful of how you feel."

Al rested his hand atop hers. "Thanks, Lissa." He giggled softly. "You're a great big sister."

Lissa grinned across at him, embarrassed and pleased. "Thanks, Al."


	35. Fortress of Ice

Holy. Shit. You all - I just realized S&S is OVER A YEAR OLD NOW. The anniversary was on October 23rd and I missed it! I missed my own fic's anniversary! I cannot BELIEVE it's been a year since I started this journey, I really can't. I still remember the point where I thought I'd never post anything again. And now I'm here, halfway through and thirty-four (!) chapters deep into this - and I recently started on my own original story as well, with the intent to try and get it published one day. I am in awe every day of the reception this little fic has gotten, seriously, and you all, the readers, have been a MASSIVE inspiration for me the entire way. You're the reason I feel like I could even try to get something published. Pardon my emotional tirade, but really, just...wow. Thank you all, from the very bottom of my heart and soul. So without further ado, welcome...to Briggs.

* * *

The air turned bitingly cold long before the train pulled into North City, prompting Ed to wake up freezing, complaining about the temperature until Lissa shoved the clothes she'd altered into his arms. They both changed in the restroom and were safely bundled in their new clothes by the time they reached the city—Lissa had switched to thick dark grey trousers and black fur-lined boots, with a purple sweater and a warm grey coat, topped with earmuffs and a red scarf she'd transmuted with a little leftover material from Ed's own cloak. She liked the little touch. Her new gloves were black with pink accents, full-fingered for safety, but she'd doubled them up over her usual pink ones in case she needed a little more control. Not that they should _have_ to fight here, given they were just going to a military base… But she wouldn't risk being helpless.

As soon as they stepped off the train, Ed took off running, sprinting away from Al and Lissa with the biggest grin on his face. Lissa just laughed and followed at a normal pace, her cheeks stinging a bit with the chill—but she was just enjoying seeing Edward so happy and carefree for a moment, after everything they'd been through.

She and Al passed through the exit just after Ed, and caught up with him at the edge of the station's stairs. "Look! There's snow!" Ed cried, grinning out into the icy white landscape.

Lissa giggled and tipped her head back, letting snowflakes catch in her curls. _Snow._ It was so bitterly cold—but she just didn't care, looking out at how beautiful it was, white and fluffy, covering everything in the square.

Not wasting a moment, Ed hurried down the stairs, Al just behind him, and Lissa followed a bit more cautiously, her boots crunching in the layer of ice sitting atop the stone. "Careful, it's-"

Ed yelped as his foot slid out from under him and he went skidding down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom, groaning in pain.

"Slippery," Lissa finished.

"Brother!" Al followed him down carefully, worrying as always.

Lissa giggled when she reached the bottom, watching Ed shoving to his feet and rubbing at his tailbone gingerly. "You know, I _did_ suggest you get a pair of snow boots," she pointed out, lifting one foot in demonstration. "But _no_ , you wanted to keep your usual combat boots. Dummy."

He whined and sat up on his knees, giving her a pathetic look. "I didn't think it'd be this bad!"

"Here, let's get you on your feet," Lissa laughed. She offered him a hand and pulled him upright, letting Al grab the suitcase while she held onto Edward's arm so he wouldn't slip yet again, even though the roadway had a good layer of snow on it. "C'mon, Ed. Let's find somewhere to sit down for a second, okay?"

Though Ed wrinkled his nose about it, he agreed anyway, and the three settled on a nearby bench. Ed whined about his tailbone the whole time, even once he'd sat down—and Lissa didn't exactly _blame_ him, though it was funny he'd managed to fall that quickly.

"I can't believe you fell as soon as we got here," she giggled, squeezing his hand and resting her head on his shoulder. "You really are a dummy."

"Yeah, Ed," Al laughed, from Ed's other side. "You are _so_ uncoordinated."

Ed glared up at them. "Oh, shut up!" he complained. "It was just a little slip! Jeez…"

Al stared out at the cityscape thoughtfully. "All this snow is amazing, huh?" he asked, kindly changing the subject.

"Yeah," Ed agreed, smiling. "You don't get much snow like this back home, that's for sure." He looked up at his brother in a sudden burst of excitement. "Oh, yeah—hey, Al! Do you remember that one really heavy snow we had back when we were little?"

Al peered down at him. "Maybe…" But then he giggled and nodded eagerly. Oh, yeah! I remember! We had a snowball fight!"

Ed grinned and bobbed his head. "And we made a snowman!"

Lissa felt a pang of sorrow in her chest, and bit the inside of her cheek to hide it. There was no reason to dampen their spirits now.

"Yeah! Back then I never imagined we would come this far north," Al mused. "It seemed impossible."

Ed smiled up at the snow falling from the sky. "Yeah. But here we are now." He nudged Lissa with his shoulder. "What about you, Liss? Rayerk wasn't too far south from Resembool, did you ever get snow as a kid?"

She shook her head a bit hesitantly. "Not…not that I remember."

His expression fell. "Shit. I forgot you…might not…remember. Sorry." Ed reached down and took her hand, threading his fingers between hers and squeezing softly.

"So that sorta makes it your first time seeing snow, right, Lissa?" Al wondered.

She nodded. "Yup. As far as I know."

"Well…" Al turned to look at her, something…mischievous lurking in his tone. "Then that means there's something very important we need to do."

Lissa raised an eyebrow. "And…that would be…?"

 _WHAM!_

She shrieked and toppled off the bench sideways as the snowball hit her dead-on, coming from _nowhere_ thanks to a little alchemy. Lissa lay there in a snowdrift, stunned, slush trickling down her neck while the boys laughed above her. A snowball. Al had thrown a _snowball_ into her face. She'd never expected _that_ , certainly.

Lissa let her arm fall to the side and curled her fingers into the snow. "If that's how it's gonna be," she muttered.

She shot upright and flung a snowball of her own directly into Ed's face, catching him right in his open mouth. Al dissolved into peals of laughter as his brother spluttered and spat snow, while Lissa pushed to her feet with another snowball primed, just in case. "You're right, Al," she told him, smirking. "That _was_ important."

Ed snickered and wiped his glove across his face. "C'mere!" He lunged up and Lissa shrieked, laughing as he tackled her into the snow, tumbling end over end in a sort of playful tussle, flinging snow and snowballs and both laughing like total idiots. Lissa just grinned when he got the best of her, pinning her into a snowdrift and sprinkling a little snow into her hair. Ed's cheeks and the tip of his nose were bright red, snowflakes caught in his hair and melting just a bit, sparkling like crystals as he beamed down at her, breath puffing white clouds as he panted.

He leaned down and kissed her cheek, just innocently—then another, at the corner of her mouth. When he leaned back, the softness she saw in his golden eyes stole all the breath from her lungs. Lissa knew, in that very moment, she could stay with Edward Elric forever and never be unhappy. Never.

"We'll have a big snowball fight one day," Ed promised wryly as he stood up, and pulled her to her feet beside him. "Just like we did when we were kids. Okay?"

Lissa smiled at him and nodded. "I'll hold you to that."

Ed slung his arm around her shoulders, the gesture familiar and sweet. "So, now what do we do?" he wondered aloud. "We still have a little bit of time before our train to Briggs takes off."

"Why don't you grab something to eat?" Al suggested.

"Eh, I dunno… I'm not really all that hungry," Ed muttered, scrunching his nose up just a bit.

Lissa nudged him with her hip. "Who knows when we'll get to eat again, though?" she pointed out. "We have to walk all the way up to Briggs."

He nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, fair point. I guess we could look." Ed released her and took off running down the snowy street, eager like a little kid.

"Careful!" Al chided, chasing after him. "You're gonna fall again!"

"Shut up!"

Lissa giggled and followed them both, feeling warm all over despite the cold climate. She loved those boys, she really did.

—

They took a train later that day as far north as they could go, and from there paid a local with a horse and cart to take them up as close to Briggs as he dared—Ed grumbled about how much it cost, but their guide explained that hardly anybody went up that far, so this was the best they'd get. Lissa tried not to cringe at the exorbitant price. They certainly weren't in Central anymore.

Lissa sat with her knees curled to her chest, her back pressed into Ed's, trying to conserve body heat the further up they went. It was just…so damned _cold_. And she'd thought North City was freezing! "I think my nose is going to fall off," she muttered irritably.

"Same with my ears," Ed agreed, sniffling. "I don't suppose you have the materials to transmute me some earmuffs, Liss?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Just use your hood, dummy."

"But I don't wanna w— _ACHOO_!"

Al looked over at him curiously. "Are you catching a cold?" he asked. "That's the fifth time you've sneezed coming up here."

Ed wiped his nose and glowered at nothing in particular. "Oh, I'm cold all right," he grumbled. "That's Briggs for you."

"You know, Lissa did try to make you dress warmer," Al pointed out.

Ed rolled his eyes. "I _did_ dress warm!"

The cart rolled to a stop, and their guide looked back at them over his shoulder. "All right, this is where I let you go," he announced. They'd stopped outside a single gate in a long strip of wooden fencing, hung with a bell overhead and no other signage or any markings to distinguish it as military land. Lissa wondered how they would've ever found it on their own. Reluctantly, feeling a bit like they were being dropped off to their deaths, Lissa hopped off the cart behind the boys and stood there ankle-deep in the snow. "If you follow this mountain road," their guide continued, pointing through the gate and up the mountain, "it'll lead you straight to Fort Briggs."

"'Kay, thanks," Ed sighed, lifting a hand. He already sounded exhausted and they hadn't even started yet.

"And you, in the armor," their guide called, just as they were about to head off.

Baffled, Al turned to him and pointed at himself.

"Yes, you," the man confirmed. "Is that automail?"

Al tipped his head to one side. "Um…no."

"Oh, okay." Their guide shrugged. "Then you should be all right." With that, he waved and headed off down the road.

"What was that all about?" Ed muttered, frowning.

Al shrugged. "Beats me."

"That's military land, beyond the fence!" the man called back, just before he got too far. "So stay on the road if you want to live!"

Lissa wrinkled her nose. "We should've asked, don't you think?" she pointed out, tapping Ed's automail arm meaningfully. "If there's some issue with automail up here…"

But he just waved her off. "Eh, I'll be fine. It's too late now, besides." He turned and jerked his chin towards the mountain path ahead of them. "You ready?"

"Not really." Lissa wound her arm around his and set off. "But let's go."

They set off at a decent pace, given the snowy conditions, all in fairly good spirits—but the further they got up the mountain, the worse the weather got. Lissa forced Ed to put his hood up, and though he protested it fiercely, he was soon gripping the base of it just to keep it from flying off his head, shivering just as hard as she was in the icy wind and snow that had suddenly filled the air. The storm soon progressed into a full whiteout, racing from _manageable_ all the way to _completely unbearable_ in what felt like under a minute.

"I don't suppose you can do anything about this, can you, Liss?" Ed asked, raising his voice to speak over the wind.

She grimaced. "If I took my gloves off and risked frostbite, sure!"

He let out a yell of frustration. "Dammit! I know they say the weather here changes quickly, but this seems a little extreme, if you ask me!"

Al looked over at them worriedly. "What do we do now, brother? We can't even see the road!"

"Relax, we'll be fine," Ed dismissed quickly. "Teacher said she was tossed out here for a whole month during her training. She survived!"

"No way! She couldn't have lived in this for an entire month!" Al denied quite vehemently.

Ed hunched his shoulders further. "Sure she could! She even killed a bear!"

"Even _if_ she did, that's not fair, comparing us to Ms. Izumi!" Lissa pointed out with a roll of her eyes. "She's a little more badass than we are, Ed."

"And you think she killed a bear?" Al repeated in disbelief. "The bears around here are more than fifteen feet tall, y'know. There's no way she could've killed one of them!"

Secretly, Lissa had to agree—Izumi was still just a regular human, even though she was an exceptionally talented alchemist… There was no way she could've stayed here for a month and killed a _bear_ too, no damn way. At least… She didn't _think_ it was possible. Though the idea of the story being true was more than a little terrifying. _How did I survive her disliking me?_

Something _thudded_ into the snow behind them, hard. Lissa spun, stretching her fingers out automatically, trying to feel out whatever the hell this… _enormous shape_ in front of them was.

" _BEAR!_ " the boys screamed immediately.

Lissa didn't think so—even with her alchemical senses dulled, her sense of the Dragon's Pulse was still going strong…and this didn't feel like an animal. Though…there was something a bit _bear-like_ about them, despite them being decidedly human.

There was a flash of blue light behind her, and Lissa heard the familiar sound of Ed transmuting his automail. So he was ready to fight, at least. In return, she brought her arms up and stared up at the looming shape, aware she'd have a rough time fighting in these conditions but unwilling to give up all the same.

The air ripped with a distortion, and Lissa shrieked and jerked back as their assailant—a giant man, she thought—slammed something down into the snow, which she just narrowly avoided.

"That's no bear!" Ed yelled, taking her arm and yanking her backwards.

The man flung his arm around and fired something at Al. Lissa thrust her hand forward, trying to disrupt its path—but the air she compressed went _through_ it, and Al was knocked into the snow by a weighted net. Of course her alchemy didn't work right on that! The air just went through the damned gaps!

"Alphonse!" Ed cried, turning to his brother anxiously.

Lissa swallowed hard as she focused her senses on this man, waiting for him to attack. She hadn't been planning on a fucking _fight_ , dammit! Especially not against some giant man with—with… Was that some kind of specialized automail on his right arm? The hell?

Ed stepped up beside her and squinted through the snow. "Hey, wait! Hold on a second. Is that a military uniform you're wearing?" he asked loudly. Lissa followed his gaze, jolting in surprise when she recognized the Amestrian military uniform beneath the man's thick coat. Why the hell was a soldier attacking them?!

The man regarded them. "Well, it looks like some pretty mediocre stuff, but you have automail too, huh?" he observed.

"Huh?" Ed's eyes narrowed. "Mediocre? Just cuz mine's not tacky like yours?"

Lissa winced. _Dummy…_

"Fool!" the man shot back. "Obviously you don't know a good weapon when you see one!" He brandished his automail, something like a giant clamp mixed with a chainsaw, and snapped, "This right here is combat automail model M1913-A—the Crocodile. Now!" He pointed the jaw-like automail at the two and demanded, "Surrender peacefully, you miserable Drachman spies, or I'll show you exactly what this baby can do!"

"Drachman spies?!" Lissa repeated, gaping at him. He thought they were spies?!

"What're you talking about?! We're not-" But Ed's retort was cut off as the soldier attacked, large enough to go for both Ed and Lissa at once. She ducked underneath his automail and rolled back, using a boost of air to lift to her feet in a fighting stance, just as Ed landed a few feet away, evading with one of his signature handsprings.

He glared across at the soldier, furious now. "Don't you hear what I'm saying, moron?!" Ed's face contorted as he went to snarl something else—but then he winced and grabbed his right shoulder, looking down at his automail anxiously. "What the hell?" Lissa heard him hiss. "It shouldn't be hurting. Something's wrong with my automail!"

From her perspective, she could see his arm was locking up, inexplicable since she'd _just_ helped him service the damned thing the night before. Lissa cursed and rushed forward, a blast of air sending her directly into the soldier's path as he went for Ed. She brought both arms up, palms out, and gathered the wind around her to block his advance—the air sparkled with little tornados of starlight, her own alchemy caught up in the storm, and the force of it all sent their attacker flying backwards.

"You little-" He cut himself off with a growl and lunged, ducking under her next attack—she had almost _no_ control—and knocking her aside with a sweep of his automail.

Lissa landed in the snow, her vision going white for a moment until she shoved back to her knees and blinked her eyes clear. Just a few feet away, the soldier was holding Ed aloft by his right arm, pinning the metal within his own automail, between the jagged bits like teeth running along the center. As she watched, the teeth began to _move_ , like a proper chainsaw, grating over Ed's own automail and sending sparks flying everywhere. Ed tried to transmute the soldier's automail—but the transmutation failed, leaving him at this crazy guy's mercy.

"Let him go!" she snarled, rising to her feet, angry now. How dare this soldier treat them this way!

"Lissa!" Al rose up from behind her, apparently free of the net. "Help me with this!"

She turned to see him holding his own helmet aloft, primed to throw it—and understood in a heartbeat. "Got it!" she called back, summoning the air around them. With all her focus and control, Lissa was able to still a corridor of air for Al—which he immediately took advantage of, throwing his helmet straight into Ed's outstretched hand.

"Thanks, Alphonse!" Ed shouted back. He rammed the helmet into the soldier's automail, and immediately the little ribbon at the top was sucked into the rotating blades, twisting up inside the mechanism and forcing the whole thing to open.

Ed dropped into the snow, free, hurrying to spring back over to where Al and Lissa waited, looking well and truly pissed now as he crouched beside them.

"You okay?" Al asked him worriedly.

Ed grimaced. "This is bad… I hope I die here, or else Winry's gonna kill me!"

"You're lucky he didn't get your whole arm," Lissa muttered, resting her palm on his shoulder. "How's your shoulder?"

"Not great either," he admitted softly.

"That wasn't too bad, kid," the soldier called across to them, holding his tangled automail out to the side. "Especially with that ordinary automail you have. But it's all over now."

Lissa opened her senses, which had been focused solely on that soldier until then—and cringed when she realized they were _surrounded_ by brand-new energies, just moments before a myriad of white-suited soldiers seemed to materialize out of the storm around them. They all bore military-issue handguns and tinted goggles, to protect from snow-blindness… And they were pointing their guns _right_ at the three alchemists.

"The Briggs Mountain Guard," Al whispered, holding his hands up in surrender.

Ed eyed the gun closest to him. "This is getting old. I don't want another gun stuck in my face."

Lissa brought her hands in close to her abdomen, mindful that raising them could be a sort of…threat. She didn't want to take any risks. "We're fucked," she breathed, through chattering teeth as the cold began to set in now that she wasn't moving. "We are _so_ fucked, aren't we?"

"Probably," Ed agreed weakly.

The soldier approached them, knowing they were subdued, as the storm began to die down around them.

"Brother!" Al whispered in surprise.

Lissa followed the angle of his body—and felt her jaw drop in absolute astonishment. _When…when did that get there?_

Ed seemed just as confused. "A wall?"

"How did we miss that?" Lissa mumbled. For somehow, in the storm and the chaos of the fight…they'd come upon the biggest wall she had _ever_ see, standing between the sides of two mountains. It was massive, cut from dark grey concrete or stone, or some composite, looming out of the snowy ground like a massive gate. How the hell hadn't they spotted it?

"Buccaneer!" a low, feminine voice rang down, echoing off the side of the wall. "Who are they?"

The automail-bearing soldier—Buccaneer, apparently—turned to the wall and snapped to attention. "I'm sorry!" he shouted back. "I didn't see you there, General Armstrong. I apologize for the disturbance."

Lissa tilted her head back and sucked in a sharp breath. High above them, standing impassive on a railed section of the wall, was a woman in soldiers' garb, her long, sleek blonde hair twisting in the unending wind. _So this is Alex's sister… She… She doesn't look anything like him, she got the same sort of genes as Catherine, I guess. Damn._

"Armstrong?" Al murmured, catching on.

Ed too was staring up at her. "That's who Major Armstrong wanted us to meet when we made it here? Olivier Mira Armstrong… Major Armstrong's older sister!"

"But…they look different," Al mumbled, baffled.

"She's not huge," Ed agreed, just as confused as his brother.

Lissa eyed the boys. "You really need to meet Cat," she sighed, shaking her head.

"I'll ask again—who are you?" General Armstrong demanded, a touch impatient now, clearly finished waiting for her answers.

Ed stared up at her fiercely, his shoulders squared. "I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist. My name's Edward Elric. Major Armstrong from Central Command sent us here to meet with the General in charge of this post." He jerked his head towards the soldiers still pointing guns at them. "Can you call off your guard dogs?"

General Armstrong gazed down without any remorse. "Search them," she ordered.

"But I'm with the military!" Ed complained.

She scoffed. "Sure. But how do I verify that? Anyone can claim to be somebody famous."

Lissa cringed at that. She'd offer to give a display of her own unique alchemy, but considering the conditions up here, even with the storm having ebbed… And besides, she didn't fancy pissing Alex's sister off before they even officially met. So she stood with her arms outstretched as a soldier, possibly a female by the look of her clothes, patted her down and checked her pockets.

"Hey, he's hollow!" the soldier examining Al yelped.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Oh, you noticed," he sneered.

One of the patrolmen rifled through the suitcase, muttered something, and then went racing up to where the General stood. "General!" he called, offering her a small white envelope.

Lissa perked up. Alex's letter!

"That's a letter of introduction from Major Alex Louis Armstrong," Ed explained loudly. "Just read that. Then you'll know you can trust us."

The General turned the letter over in her hands, checking the seal on the back, which was still undisturbed from being safely stored in the suitcase, thankfully. "It's from Alex, all right," she confirmed. But then, in a quick, decisive motion, she ripped the letter to shreds right there in front of them, without so much as a second glance.

"Aren't you even going to read it?!" Ed yelped.

Lissa watched in horror as the General continued ripping the letter up smoothly. "A letter of introduction means nothing to me. I don't put much stock in anyone else's opinion of a person. I prefer to judge the people I meet with my own eyes." She finished tearing it to shreds and tossed the scraps over her shoulder, letting the wind catch them and carry them away, off and up the mountain.

So Alex really hadn't been kidding when he said it was difficult to earn her respect… She didn't even care about _his_ opinions. Lissa's mouth felt much too dry. This…was not going to be easy.

The white haze from the snow cleared even further, and Lissa heard herself gasp as the very top of the wall finally became visible, stretching so high she wondered how a person could even _breathe_ all the way up there.

"Th-th-that's amazing!" Ed breathed. "It's huge! What exactly _is_ this place?"

The General regarded him a bit sharply. "Enter, Fullmetal Alchemist," she acquiesced, finally.

But Ed was still overwhelmed. "This is incredible," he nearly laughed. "That wall is really, really, _really_ tall!" So that was it… He was going crazy about the _height_. Lissa could've laughed at him for it—he had such an issue with the height thing.

"Quit gaping like an idiot and start walking!" the General snapped, glowering down at them. "Before I tear your little body apart limb from limb!"

Lissa bit back a growl as she sidestepped in front of Ed. _Just you try it, I know how you Armstrongs fight!_

A muscle twitched on the General's face. "Be warned: I won't coddle you because you're children." It was a threat—and an acknowledgement of Lissa's actions, too. The lines had been drawn, she supposed. "This is the mountain fortress, Briggs. Here, only the strong survive." With that, the General turned and strode back into the fortress.

Lissa clenched her fists as one of the patrolmen pointed a gun their way. "Cut it out," she muttered. "We're going, we're going."

At the urging of the guards, they headed in through a big metal door at the base of the fortress, Buccaneer leading the way, with Al's helmet still dangling from his automail. Lissa didn't appreciate that any more than she appreciated the way they were surrounded by soldiers, being treated like a threat, like _spies_ instead of fellow members of the Amestrian military. It was one of the first times, if not _the_ first time, she'd ever wanted to be treated like she was part of the military.

"How's your arm?" Lissa asked Ed softly, leaning in closer to him.

He grimaced a bit. "It's…stiff. Not great. And my shoulder…" Ed rubbed gingerly at his port—and then hissed and winced, flinching with a sudden burst of pain. "Dammit… That doesn't feel right…"

Lissa frowned at him. "Here, let me…" She stripped off her full-fingered gloves with her teeth, clenching them there for a moment as she took hold of the air around Ed's shoulder, trying to sense what the hell was going on. "Oh, shit, Ed. That's… _cold_ , that's way too cold. The metal on your port is freezing. I could warm it up, but…" She yanked her gloves from her mouth and stuffed them into her pocket before darting ahead and falling into step beside the big soldier from before. "Hey, uh—it's Buccaneer, right? Captain Buccaneer?" She could see his rank on his uniform, after all. A little propriety might help.

He eyed her suspiciously. "What do you want?"

She pointed back at Ed, whose face was still screwed up in pain. "Ed needs to see a doctor, something's wrong around his ports. You'd know who to take us to, right?"

Buccaneer looked decidedly unhappy about it, but he took another look at Edward and relented. "Fine. The three of you can follow me. I need to get my automail switched out anyway." He jerked his chin at their guards. "I've got 'em."

Lissa dropped back beside Ed as Buccaneer turned down a different hallway, this one as oppressively barren as the last, though it did take them to a stairwell, so that was a change in scenery. Thus far, Fort Briggs was turning out to be…sort of…bland, at least on the interior. It was as though the entire place was built for function, and nothing else, which gave it a rather cold and distant sort of feeling. She didn't like it much.

Buccaneer led them into the medical room, and left them there in the hands of a female doctor with short, spiked blonde hair tied out of her face with a bandanna. "So, what seems to be the problem?" she asked, eyeing them.

"His ports are acting up," Lissa explained quickly, seeing that Ed was too busy grimacing in pain to do it himself.

The doctor's eyes widened. "You have automail?" She pointed at a stool near the center of the room. "Sit. Get out of those wet clothes, I'll be right back."

Ed reluctantly sat down and shucked his boots off, struggling a bit with his coat. It was warmer here, so Lissa felt comfortable enough to keep her gloves off for the moment—which allowed her enough freedom of movement to help Ed, since it was clear his shoulder was paining him. "Here," she murmured, taking his cloak and easing it off his arms. "I got it."

He sighed and let her, wincing as she took his jacket off too, before he got to work on his trousers—that she was _not_ going to do, not like this. By the time Ed had gotten himself down to his underclothes, the doctor returned with a pail of steaming water and a couple washcloths.

"Here, miss, you can help me." The doctor beckoned her over. "I'm just getting the metal warmed up, that's all."

Lissa bobbed her head, and quickly grabbed up a cloth, which she dunked into the hot water. The moment she put it on Ed's shoulder, she could see his posture relaxing, the heat doing its job much better than she could've done. Honestly, she felt more comfortable cooling air than heating it, since hot air could do _so_ much more damage much quicker.

"So, who are you kids, anyway?" the doctor asked curiously, as she worked on Ed's leg.

"I'm Lissa Caito, and this is Edward and Alphonse Elric," Lissa explained, smoothing her fingers across Ed's shoulders. "Edward and I are state alchemists, actually—he's the Fullmetal Alchemist, and I'm the Starlight Alchemist."

The doctor gave her a surprised look. "You kids are state alchemists? How old are you?"

"Fifteen." Lissa pulled out her pocket watch to prove it, and pulled Ed's from his trousers to show as well, before settling it and his trousers on the floor beside him. "That doesn't make us any less military, though." She didn't like being judged for her age any more than Ed did, considering how often they'd faced altered treatment because of it.

"No, no, I got that. It's just impressive, that's all," the doctor explained passively.

 _Oops._

Ed looked up at her curiously. "So what happened to me, anyway? Why'd my skin start to ache like that?"

"Oh, you were suffering from exposure," she explained, shrugging.

His eyes widened. "E-exposure?"

"Yes, that's right," the doctor confirmed, rising to look down at him. "You got lucky. You were close to getting frostbite." She folded her arms over her chest a bit sternly. "You need to be careful walking around in a snowstorm. The flesh that's touching your automail will freeze—and you need to oil it, or it will stiffen."

Lissa swatted the back of his head. "It was that bad and you didn't say anything?" she muttered.

He caught her hand with his left and tugged her straight into his side, not missing a beat. "So does that Buccaneer guy have a different kind of automail or something?" Ed asked, twining his fingers between hers and holding on firmly.

It was a good question, but the doctor didn't have time to reply—for Buccaneer himself came into the room then, holding his automail aloft with poor Al's helmet still dangling from its jaws. "It's no use, doc," the Captain sighed. "I can't get this thing unstuck."

"Hey, my head!" Al yelped, rising to his feet.

The doctor pointed past the blue curtains at the back of the room. "Yep, go on through. You might have some luck with it off."

Buccaneer grunted his agreement and stepped through, with barely a glance at the alchemists.

"Anyone you see here with automail will have something a bit different," she continued, going back to Ed's question. "Up here, your automail has to be flexible and lightweight. It also needs to be resistant to the cold. After some trial and error, we found an alloy that works—a combination of duralumin, carbon fiber, nickel, copper, and so on."

Ed groaned and screwed up his face unhappily. "Ugh, and here I assumed it was just iron," he muttered. "It's no wonder I couldn't do anything with it."

"Hey, doc, be careful," Buccaneer warned, pulling the curtain aside and stepping back into the room with a new set of automail attached, this one more or less a functional arm—so he'd put on some kind of combat variant just to go fight them? Lissa wondered at that. She knew from seeing Ed go through it that reattaching automail hurt pretty badly. And Captain Buccaneer just…did it habitually. Damn. "Are you planning on telling him all our secrets?" he pressed, rising to his full height.

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I? He's a state alchemist. Him and the girl both. They have a right to know, don't they?"

Buccaneer's eyes narrowed. "You're kidding."

"They've got the pocket watches," the doctor added, shrugging.

Lissa glanced at Ed, and pulled her watch out at the same time as he did, offering them as proof again. It didn't seem to reassure Buccaneer, though, if the judgmental look he gave them was anything to go by—though Lissa had the feeling it was more to do with his own frustration that they were technically a higher rank than him, equivalent to a Major. She bit her lip to keep back a smirk at that thought, being able to order somebody like Captain Buccaneer around.

Not that she'd dare. But it was a nice thought.

Since Ed was feeling better by then, he was able to get his clothes back on, a process Lissa watched closely to ensure he actually put all the layers back. She knew he could get absentminded and miss one. "I'll keep an eye on the temperature of your ports for now," Lissa told him, tugging his cloak into place and smoothing the fabric down. "But tell me if it gets bad, please."

"If you're going to be in the north for long, you should switch to a different kind of automail," the doctor suggested, crossing back from where she'd gone to pour what looked like a cup of coffee. Lissa wrinkled her nose. She hated the stuff. "Do you have a mechanic?"

Ed nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, but she's in Rush Valley."

"And she let you come up north without explaining all of this to you first?" the doctor wondered, frowning.

"Not exactly." Ed wrinkled his nose. "I didn't tell her I was planning on coming up here," he explained.

The doctor passed him the cup of coffee she'd fetched. "I'd recommend you send for her," she counseled. "Assuming that you'd like to stay alive."

Lissa shifted away from the cup and told him, "Call her, Ed. You need to."

He grumbled and turned away from her. "Fine," he muttered, and took a reluctant sip—she knew he wasn't exactly fond of it either, but he was attempting to be polite. Lissa had no such hang-ups—this was her milk, so to speak.

"That'll be a hundred cens," the doctor told him brightly, holding out her hand.

Ed spat the drink out and tossed her the coin, glaring down into the cup's depths. "Seriously?! It wasn't even a good cup of coffee," he complained.

The doctor smirked at him. "This is the north. Get used to it."

"I'm really starting to hate the north," Lissa muttered aside to Al, turning her nose up at the whole stupid situation.

Buccaneer eyed them with his arms folded. "So you come up here with mediocre automail, completely ignorant about the north, _and_ you try to bypass the command center," he drawled, the whole thing an accusation.

Lissa bristled at his tone. "That's not it at all," she argued.

"Yeah, come on," Ed protested. "We hike up here, a couple _state alchemists_ with an official letter of introduction, and _this_ is how we're treated?! What's _wrong_ with you people?! Do you have no sense of propriety? Your General threatened to tear my arms off!"

The door slid open. "Hello, little red runt," General Armstrong greeted lowly.

Ed wilted. "L-little…red…"

Lissa tensed, still feeling a bit protective after the General's threats earlier—she wasn't looking to go committing treason, but it was like she'd thought before… She didn't think there was a limit of what she'd do for her boys. And if it came down to it, she'd fight Major General Olivier Armstrong to protect Ed. Even if she'd lose that fight.

"If you have a problem," the General continued, ignoring his distress, "then now's the time to speak up."

Across the room, Al let out a horrified sort of shriek—and Lissa turned to see the base's automail mechanic grinning and holding up his helmet. Only…the ribbon was _shredded_ , cut down to just a couple inches and frayed horribly at the end. "M-my _hair_!" Alphonse wailed, distraught. He took the helmet back and fitted it in place, peering into a nearby mirror to check the result. "It looks _awful_ ," he moaned, slumping in front of the mirror.

Lissa patted his back comfortingly. "It's okay, Al. I'll try to fix it later, I promise."

"If you're finished moping, I believe we have things to discuss," General Armstrong interrupted firmly.

Considering that didn't leave much room for argument, the three followed her out of the medical room and into a sort of inner office, maybe the female doctor's from before. Buccaneer and the doctor followed, wanting information, perhaps. The General brought a new guard with her as well, a man with greyish white hair and tinted goggles, as though he were prepared to go out into the snow at any moment.

While the General sat, crossing her ankle over her knee and taking on a position that was both relaxed and strong, somehow, Ed, Lissa, and Al decided to remain standing instead. Lissa thought it felt like it gave them…a little more control, in the face of all this.

"Well now," the General began, eyeing them. "From what I hear, you three are close to my brother, Alex." She absently peered at a photo on the desk for a moment. "Is he doing all right?"

Ed blinked at her, visibly surprised. "Uh, yeah!"

Al nodded eagerly. "The big, strong guy we know and love! Alex is doing great!"

"And you?" the General pressed Lissa. "It's my understanding you're very close with him. At least, that's what I've heard."

Lissa swallowed hard. "He's…like family to me," she admitted.

Something dark came over the General's face, and Lissa realized that might _not_ be a good thing—but she pushed it away moments later. "No matter," she dismissed. "Never mind him. Tell me why you would bypass the command center to meet with me. I want to know it all." Her sharp-eyed gaze flicked up to Al. "Including why your armor's empty."

The boys exchanged looks, while Lissa scuffed the toe of her snow boot on the floor. Damn. Olivier Armstrong was…not one for subtleties, apparently.

"Actually…that's something we don't like to talk about," Ed told her reluctantly.

The doctor shrugged at him. "There's no reason to worry. Folks around here have plenty they want to hide. Everybody up north has something that they don't like to talk about."

Ed looked unhappy still. "But…if this information reaches certain ears, I could be court-martialed," he admitted.

"Or worse," Lissa muttered, touching his shoulder.

"Even I have secrets like that," the General told them bluntly.

Al leaned in towards the two, lowering his voice carefully. "Brother, Lissa… I really think we have to tell her," he whispered.

"But Winry's a hostage," Ed pointed out softly.

"And Alex, her own brother," Lissa added. She was petrified to admit that much to the General—that Lissa had caused her _brother_ to be put in such danger. Honestly, she thought the Major General might just slice her head right off with the sword at her hip.

Ed gripped her hand tightly. "I don't know… Maybe if we can do it without mentioning the Führer or the homunculi…"

"What are you whispering about?!" the General demanded sharply. "Start talking! Now!"

"We'll just give her the basics," Lissa breathed. "Everything before the homunculi, without the Philosopher's Stone."

Al sighed. "I don't like it…but fine. Let's just tell her we're trying to get our bodies back."

"It's a bit of a long story," Ed began, visibly reluctant.

The General scoffed. "I'm not going anywhere."

So, with no other options, they told the story—from Ed and Al's mother passing, their attempt at human transmutation, the beginning of Lissa's own involvement…all the way to a sort of feigned story about coming across Mei Chang and her little panda, which the boys called a _cat_ as Ed drew it for the General, and how they hoped alkahestry might give them some leads into getting their bodies back. Lissa thought, privately, that General Armstrong didn't believe all of it… Or at least, she sensed there was more to the story. But she seemed content with that wealth of information for the moment, which was a small mercy.

"I see," the General murmured at the end, staring down at the drawing. "So that's why you're looking for this girl with the strange cat." She set the paper down and nodded. "I understand."

An eager look grew on Ed's face. "So does that mean you're going to help u-"

But the General cut him off sharply. "I'm not done! What I understand is this." Her gaze turned fierce. "You three are a bunch of reckless wretches who cause trouble with every last thing you do! I don't want people like you in my fort. Not to mention your poor judgment of character." She scoffed. "Honestly, how could the people at Central let these three run around loose? Get out of here right now!"

Lissa clenched her teeth. Was she really just throwing them out on their asses?! Had they come all this way for— _nothing_?

"At least…" The General inclined her head. "That's what I'd _like_ to say. But I'm interested in alkahestry." So they weren't being thrown out… But Lissa was still uncomfortable. "You three. You're acquainted with this girl from Xing? You've met her before?"

Al nodded hesitantly. "Yeah… We have."

"She has a skill our country doesn't, right?" General Armstrong pressed.

Lissa furrowed her brow. "Is there a particular reason you're interested in alkahestry, General?" she edged, even knowing it might land her a knife in the neck.

Thankfully, though, the General didn't lash out. "You can never know too much," she explained instead. "Especially here in the north, where we're right next to Drachma. If we use it right, alkahestry could make an excellent weapon."

Lissa and Ed exchanged sharp looks. A weapon?! Dammit, so this was her interest here!

"Wait a second!" Al yelped. "Alkahestry is specialized for medical purposes. You can't j-"

"Be quiet!" The General folded her arms over her chest. "You're nothing but lap dogs living safely within your city walls. But _we_ are the ones who protect you! We few who are brave enough to defend the country's border." Her mouth thinned to a severe line. "My job is far more perilous than yours. I will make use of any knowledge that I can get my hands on." She slammed the sheath of her sword into the floor as she stood up, keeping it in front of her, a clear threat. "Leave the task of finding this alkahestry girl to me. You three will stay here inside the fort."

Trapped. Yet again. Lissa was beginning to get _really_ sick of being trapped in various places all across Amestris.

"And, Major Miles…" The General paused just before exiting the room, addressing the white-haired man who had come in with her.

"Yes, sir?"

"Put them to work." She turned and gazed at them over her shoulder, daring them to argue. " _A man who does not work has no right to eat._ "

"You have a point," the boys admitted.

Lissa watched General Armstrong's back as she left, anger burning in her chest. _Poor judgment of character. She was talking about me, and how close I am with Alex. So she's like all the others, thinking he's weak for what happened in Ishval. Her own brother._

"Come on, then," Major Miles ordered, giving them a single wave to follow him as he headed out the door.

"Liss." Ed's palm pressed into her lower back, a gesture of comfort at this point, as he gave her a pointed sort of look. "I know. But…we just have to deal with it for now, right? I don't see any other options here."

She nodded reluctantly. "No, you're right, I just…" Lissa scowled at the floor. "I don't like anyone talking about Alex that way."

Ed smiled a bit crookedly and kissed her cheek. "C'mon. You can steam about it on the way."

"How are you so chipper, huh? General Armstrong doesn't like you much either," she muttered, wrinkling her nose.

"Well, she's gonna try to find the little Xingese girl. I'll take what I can get, at this point."

Lissa sighed at that but didn't argue. He was right. Major General Armstrong had more resources at her disposal than they did—she was much more likely to find Mei Chang within a reasonable amount of time, if the girl really did come up north. And once they _did_ find her…they could figure out the situation from there.


	36. Ignorance Remedied

So...uh, hi. It has been an AWFULLY long time, hasn't it? I'm so, so, so incredibly sorry. And also kind of wildly, tearfully grateful because I've still gotten comments and reviews on this story despite vanishing into the abyss for a long time. To sum it up - I've had a whole slew of health issues that have just completely knocked me off my feet, and I've been just...not in a great way because of that. I get to have a brain MRI this month. It's great. Additionally I have an arm injury that set me back from about 10k words a day to, er, 0 words a day for a while. I'm not making excuses but I want to be transparent because I am writing for you all, the readers, and this is just where I am in life. I had to look after myself for a while. But I am here, tentatively, and I do have material so the show must go on, so to speak! I want to extend absolute mountains of gratitude to the people who reviewed, and especially messaged me (omg) to ask if I'm all right... That means more to me than I can possibly say. I love you all, seriously. And I hope this double update goes a teensy way in getting me back into your good graces. Lissa's story is by no means finished, and I intend to see it through to the conclusion!

* * *

Major Miles led them from the medical room in stoic silence, down so many unadorned, identical hallways that Lissa felt hopelessly lost in minutes. She didn't really like that, feeling so…beholden to somebody else showing them around, but there wasn't much of a choice here. For the time being, they were at the Briggs forces' mercy—and apparently, things were done _very_ differently up here in the north. That much was painfully clear now.

"So, uh…" Ed looked up at Major Miles a bit curiously. "Exactly what kind of work will you have us doing?"

But the Major said nothing.

Still, Ed pressed onward, difficult as always to deter. "That doctor said people around here have a lot of things to hide, too. So what're you hiding, Major?"

Lissa touched the back of his hand lightly. _Careful, dummy…_

When the Major didn't reply, _again_ , Ed grew even more determined. "It's no fair for you guys to ask all the questions and never answer any!" he pointed out irritably. "We said our bit, so what's your deal, huh?"

Finally, the Major paused, though he didn't turn to face them. "You really want to know?" he asked lowly. He removed his tinted goggles then, holding them in a couple clenched fingers as he turned to stare at them fiercely over his shoulder, his gaze harsh.

"Red eyes!" Ed gasped, recoiling.

Lissa felt her jaw drop. "But you're… That's…"

"An Ishvalan?!" Al breathed.

Ed's hand rested on Lissa's shoulder and gripped down tightly. "I don't understand," he murmured. "We were told all the soldiers from Ishval were purged before the Extermination."

"They were," Lissa confirmed quietly. "I remember when the order went out in Central."

Miles regarded them coolly. "It's true that Ishvalan blood flows in my veins, but my father and my grandmother were not from that region. They were a different race." He tapped a finger to his temple. "My eyes are Ishvalan, though. My grandfather's blood runs strong." Finally, the Major turned fully to them, meeting Ed's fierce look straight on. "Amestrian… It was your people who destroyed the land of my grandfather."

Lissa gritted her teeth. _But we didn't do it! Not us, specifically. Why are we still being blamed for things we didn't do?!_

Ed tensed, bowed his head a moment—then looked up sharply, resolute. "Ishvalan, your people destroyed our countryside," he shot back in an unwavering tone. "One of you is responsible for murdering my friend's parents. Your forces killed Lissa's parents as well, and were likely the cause of her losing most of her childhood memories."

She sucked in a sharp breath. That was…true, but dangerous to say nonetheless.

"Careful, brother!" Al warned, sounding shocked by the whole thing.

Yet Ed refused to back down—and after a few seconds, something shifted in Miles' expression, and he began to chuckle, his whole posture softening. "I'm sorry, but that's the first time I've heard anyone give me that kind of an answer," he explained, sounding almost…impressed."

"What, you were testing me?" Ed grumbled, narrowing his eyes.

Miles inclined his head. "I know, it was rude. Since the war, Amestrians always view me with a mixture of guilt and pity. To be honest, I'm getting tired of it." He regarded them curiously. "But you're different, aren't you?"

Lissa reached up to touch Ed's hand where it still sat on her shoulder, curling her fingers around his. "Our experiences have been…varied," she explained quietly.

Ed nodded his agreement. "An Ishvalan tried to kidnap us—one nearly killed us, and then briefly fought alongside us as well. After all that… I'd say our feelings are a bit conflicted." He stared determinedly at Miles. "Besides… I think people should try to ignore their race, and just treat each other as equals."

Inexplicably, the Major _smiled_ as he stepped aside, and held out his arm for them to continue. So they'd…reached some kind of mutual respect with him, then, Lissa assumed.

"Major Miles, were you on active duty during the War of Extermination?" Ed asked as they continued, his hand now firmly in Lissa's—something he hadn't been doing before, perhaps out of some desire to protect her.

Miles nodded as he approached the elevator doors at the end of the hall, and pressed the button beside them, slipping his goggles back on at the same time. "Yes, I was. I've been under General Armstrong's command since then." He folded his arms over his chest as they waited. "The war began right after I was posted here. Many of my relatives, including my grandfather, were killed in the east."

"And you were allowed to keep serving?" Lissa asked, looking up at him curiously. "I came to Central around the same time, into a military-run facility… I remember kids being taken out of the facility if they had too much Ishvalan blood."

"I fell outside the military's purge requirements," Miles explained to her, "so I was spared the same fate."

Ed frowned at him. "You didn't hold any grudge against the military?"

Miles chuckled softly, amused by the question. "You don't understand how the world works, now do you?"

Ed looked down towards the floor, though Lissa had nearly expected him to be angry by the insinuation. "I know I'm ignorant about some things." He gazed up at Miles rather solemnly. "If I offended you, I'm sorry."

"An ignorant state alchemist, you say?" Miles grinned. "Interesting. You really do ask things directly, don't you?"

"What other way is there?" Lissa pointed out, shrugging. She watched Miles eyeing her curiously as the elevator arrived, and he slid the inner door aside to let them on. "We're used to soldiers talking down to us and not actually being truthful at first, just because we're younger. If we don't ask…then nobody would bother to tell us anything."

"Hm." The Major closed the gate behind them and pressed the button inside the elevator. "I suppose that's true." He looked at the closed doors thoughtfully. "I did resent the military's actions. And, I also had doubts as to why General Armstrong would keep me as her Staff Officer. The presence of someone with Ishvalan blood could cause discord among the soldiers stationed here. It would've been easier for her to get rid of me," he reflected. "Eventually, I just came right out and asked her."

"And…" Lissa frowned at him uncertainly. "What did she say?"

One corner of his mouth curled up. "She explained that there was no room for discrimination here at Briggs. General Armstrong asserted that my ancestry gave me a unique point of view she herself could not possess—and that my presence would help her see situations through a different lens." He inclined his head. "Her words made sense. I knew she was speaking without deception." He smirked just faintly. "I even went so far as to ask her— _what if the Ishvalan blood within me cannot forgive what the military did to my people?_ And do you want to know what the General said to that?"

Al shifted, his armor clanking. "What did she say?" he asked softly.

Miles nearly grinned. "She said she would accept my challenge at any time. That was it."

All three wilted just a bit. "What a scary lady," Ed mumbled, looking sideways at Lissa and Al, his face scrunched up with a touch of genuine fear.

"Maybe she said that because she had her troops with her," Al suggested.

"No… That wasn't it at all," Miles told them, a bit fearfully himself. "The look in her eye… She really meant it."

Lissa gripped down on Ed's hand reflexively. "I'm gonna slap Alex next time I see him," she hissed under her breath, fighting back a shudder at the whole thing. "He did _not_ warn us enough about his freaking sister!"

The elevator arrived with a _ding_ , and Miles led them off and outside, through a set of thick metal double doors and into the freezing wind. Lissa shuddered as it stung at her exposed fingers, and hurried to put her second layer of gloves on as protection.

"You know what the law is here?" Miles asked, as he turned right and led them along the deck.

"Survival of the fittest?" Edward edged, reluctant.

"That's right," the Major confirmed with a nod. "Without power, you die. And if you have it, you might survive. That fact always remains the same, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. It's a simple life, really. Whether you're a private or a general, race, ethnicity, and gender make no difference."

Lissa could get behind that. A place where her _gender_ made no difference in how she was treated… Now that was something she sorely wanted.

Beside her, Ed lost his footing and slipped, stumbling forward with his arms flailing as he tried to regain his balance. She cushioned the air beside the railing, quick as she could, anxious he might fall off—and beside her, mere inches from her outstretched arm, a sharp icicle came crashing down onto the deck.

She exchanged a horrified look with Ed. If he'd been standing there…

"Survival of the fittest in action," Miles observed. "Your luck was strong, so you survived."

Slowly, Lissa lowered her arm, the blue energy fading out as she released her alchemy. She hadn't even _considered_ what might be above them, the dangers beyond Ed tumbling off the edge of the fortress… And that icicle had fallen so suddenly that with all her layers on, Lissa hadn't been able to sense the disturbance of the air in time. A sick wave of uselessness tumbled over her—up here in the cold, her gender might not matter… But out in the elements, her alchemy was severely muted. She'd never been in that position before.

Miles pointed up at the myriad of dangerous icicles above them. "These icicles all need to be scraped off. That'll be your job for today. When you're finished, one of my men will show you to your quarters."

Lissa craned her neck to stare up at the icicles, suspended _far_ above them. _That_ was their job? Really?

Miles retrieved three tools for the job from a nearby closet—really just pickaxe heads on long wooden stakes—and distributed them before heading back into the base. Lissa glared up at the icicles as though that were the source of all her consternation, all her problems. "He's kidding, right?" she muttered. "There must be a thousand damned icicles up here."

"I don't think he's kidding," Al told her dejectedly.

Ed marched up to the edge, with the railing between him and a serious fall, and stared up at the icicles. "Well, I guess we've got no choice then," he sighed. He stretched onto his toes and reached up with his pickaxe…and wiggled it midair, holding it at the very end… Yet the icicles remained stubbornly out of reach.

Lissa giggled into her glove. "Aw, if only you'd grown a couple more inches this year, Ed."

He turned and glared at her. "You're _barely_ taller than me!" he shot back. "Why don't _you_ try, huh?"

She pointed helpfully at the drop just a foot away from him. "If I'm doing that, who's gonna keep you from falling all the way down when you _inevitably_ slip again, hm? Considering you can't keep your feet under you."

"Nuh-uh, you're not getting out of this," Ed told her fiercely, stomping over and taking her by the wrist. He pulled her over to where Al had begun to knock the icicles off, plenty tall enough to handle it. Lissa didn't want to be outdone—so she popped over to the nearest support pillar and stretched up to the top of that, balancing against it the whole way, and just barely managed to reach a couple icicles up at the top.

Ed's jaw dropped. "Dammit!" He reached up again, aiming for a couple longer icicles above his head, but _still_ couldn't do it. "Ugh, this is hopeless, I can't reach!" he complained.

"Huh? Is that you?"

Lissa spun at the familiar voice, staring in surprise as Warrant Officer Falman walked out from inside the base, holding another of the icicle-pickaxes and seeming just as bewildered as the three alchemists were.

"Officer Falman!" Ed turned away from his task immediately.

Falman blinked at them. "Lissa, Edward, Alphonse? What are you three doing here?" he asked, confused.

"Us? What about _you_?" Ed returned. "I thought you were at the Northern Command Center."

Falman grinned sheepishly. "Uh, yeah… I was, for a while, but then Northern Command bumped me up here."

"Oh! And they promoted you!" Al realized, pointing out the brand new Second Lieutenant's star on Falman's shoulder.

That brightened him up. "Yeah, sure did."

Ed slung his arm over Lissa's shoulders and beamed at him. "Hey, that's great, congratulations!" But then he eyed Falman's pickaxe thoughtfully. "But…why're you knocking down icicles, then? That's…kinda strange work for a Second Lieutenant."

"If they have you doing something like this," Al mused, "then that means…"

"They've taken you off the career track!" the boys realized.

Lissa rolled her eyes and pulled free of Ed as Falman wilted. "Oh, don't be so mean about it," she told them, crossing to Falman and wrapping her arms around him. "It's good to see you, Falman. I didn't think we'd find anybody we knew all the way up here."

He smiled, a bit reluctantly now, and patted her head fondly. "You too, Lissa. How's everyone down at Central holding up?"

"They're okay," she murmured, inclining her head. She knew what he was really asking. "Mustang's still going after the same things—and Riza's doing all right, given the circumstances. We saw her just a few days ago, actually, she's in good spirits at least."

Falman nodded slowly. "There's more going on here than I know, isn't there."

"Yeah," Lissa told him softly. "There is."

Ed caught her gaze, looking thoughtful—then he stepped over and kissed her quickly, right on the mouth, before bounding back to Al and suggesting they get to work on the icicles again. Lissa marveled at how well he knew her, how he'd sensed without her ever needing to say it that she wanted a moment to speak with Falman.

"Aw, that's new," Falman teased lightly, leaning onto the railing beside her. "That's cute, you and Edward. I think we all saw that coming a mile away."

Lissa rolled her eyes as she leaned next to him, crossing her arms at the wrists and staring out at the snowy landscape. "Everybody but me and Ed, apparently." She bit her lip for a moment in thought. "Falman… Did everybody on the Colonel's team know that he was adopted?"

He raised his eyebrows. "I think so. It's not exactly a secret, not for us at least, but… That's right, he never wanted us to tell you. I'd forgotten all about that, honestly. Probably a miracle I didn't say anything. Who told you, anyway? I wouldn't think the Colonel did."

"No." She sighed wearily. "Riza did. And I didn't have a moment to talk to him before we came up here, either."

"The Colonel's always tried to look out for you, Lissa," Falman told her gently. "I don't know why he wanted to keep that from you, but I know he had his reasons—and he… Well…" He grinned. "He at least _thought_ it was the right way to handle it."

Lissa gritted her teeth and glared at nothing in particular. That was true, but it didn't make it better.

"What's on your mind, kid?" he asked her curiously. "I've known you a long time, Lissa. I know something else is bothering you."

She tried to force her hackles to lower. Falman was one of Mustang's team, so she always had a certain…association with them, she supposed—but she'd never _blamed_ them for the weird relationship she had with Mustang. They'd all known her for eight years now, seen her go from that angry, hateful little kid all the way to what she was now, in a much better space mentally… She didn't need to be harsh with him. "Sorry," Lissa murmured. "I guess I'm just…looking for answers, that's all. I'm trying to understand why he tried so damn hard with me, why he's always been…so interested in me. I don't get it."

Falman nodded slowly, staring out at the landscape alongside her for a moment. "I wish I had more answers for you. I really do. But the only one who can really give you what you want is the Colonel."

 _I know that. I'm just trying to pretend I can find out from anyone else because it'd be easier._

"However…" He squeezed her shoulder. "I know he's never been interested for his own gain. He genuinely wanted to help you, Lissa. I mean, I remember way back at the beginning, he-"

But he cut himself off.

Lissa narrowed her eyes and looked up at him sharply, latching onto that one little slip. "He _what_ , Falman? Back at the beginning he _what_?"

"I…shouldn't say," Falman told her hesitantly.

She crossed her arms irritably. "You can't just—start saying something and then _stop_ , y'know," she muttered. "That's not fair."

"I'm just…not sure how you'll feel," he sighed. "Look, the thing is… Back when you first came to Central, when the other state alchemists kept saying you were so dangerous—everyone except Major Armstrong, I'm sure you know…" Falman clasped his hands together. "Anyway… At that point, he… Well, he tried to…"

"Tried to what?"

Falman relented and bowed his head. "The Colonel very seriously attempted to adopt you, Lissa. To get you out of the system."

Lissa staggered backwards, pressing a hand to her face in shock. He… Mustang had tried to…

"They wouldn't let him," he explained, continuing in a softer tone now. "It was a conflict of interest, supposedly… And his age was a factor, as I understand it… I wasn't on his team at the time, but I heard about it later, I saw the paperwork. They thought he was too young. He would've been probably twenty-two or twenty-three at the time, so… I guess there was a point to that."

"I never… Nobody ever told me," she breathed, the world spinning before her eyes. Mustang had tried to get her _out_ of that facility? He'd…tried to _adopt_ her, to legally take her in? "Why, Falman?" she whispered, turning to him with tears brimming in her eyes. "Why me, why—out of anybody, why _me_?"

He turned the corner of his mouth up ruefully. "I don't know the answer to that. You'd have to ask the Colonel. But…I do know he's always really wanted to help you, no matter what it's felt like sometimes."

Lissa shut her eyes tightly, trying to rearrange her worldview. Roy Mustang had wanted to take a chance on that tiny, wrathful mini-alchemist—he'd been willing to _legally_ take her in, even when she vocally hated him, even when she was constantly lashing out and struggling with control… He'd been willing to take a chance on her despite all of that.

 _And I was an ass to him. Something I never apologized for._

"Liss?" Ed came up behind her and pulled her in close, taking both her hands in his and leaning in to look into her eyes. "Hey, what's going on? What's wrong?"

 _Everything. And nothing, all at once._

"I'll tell you later," she mumbled instead, opening her eyes and finding a weak smile. "How's the icicle-breaking coming?"

He quirked a faint grin and tilted his head back. "Eh, Al's doing great, I…still can't reach shit." Ed tugged her in a bit closer and lowered his voice, turning the conversation just private enough. "You looked like you were about to cry… Did something happen?" As he spoke, his left thumb traced across her knuckles lightly, a subconscious, comforting gesture.

"Nothing bad," Lissa told him, shaking her head. "Just…later. Please?"

Ed nodded reluctantly, though she knew he'd remember that later on, when they were in private—he didn't like to let things go.

"If you kids are finished out here, why don't I show you around the base?" Falman suggested, resting his pickaxe back on his shoulder. "The next team will be in soon to work on these icicles anyway."

"Sure!" Al agreed eagerly. Even he wanted to get out of the wind and back into the base.

They put their pickaxes away, and Lissa was relieved when Ed draped his arm across her shoulders, keeping her close as they headed back into the base. Falman pointed out highlights as they wound their way back inside, trying to make sense of the rabbit warren for them as much as he could—though even he admitted it had taken him a while to get used to the layout.

Falman led them out onto a large catwalk overlooking a lower section of the fort, where they could see what looked like…well, _tanks_ being put together. "This is the Development Sector," Falman explained."

"Wow," Ed breathed, peering over the edge of the railing. "Is this for what I think it is?"

"Probably," Falman conceded. "It was General Armstrong's idea. This department researches the country's latest technologies and develops them into weapons."

Ed eyed him curiously. "Does that include combat automail?"

"Sure does."

Lissa stared down at the half-assembled tank just below them. So this was why the General had been so interested in alkahestry—she had her very own R&D department at her disposal. If she actually _did_ get any information from Mei Chang, she had the ability to do something with it, too. Damn. They couldn't let her do that, even if it might technically help Amestris. Not when any developments would be going straight to Wrath.

"Come on, follow me," Falman urged, heading off along the catwalk and beckoning for them to go as well.

He took them even further down into the base, so far down Lissa's ears popped in the elevator, and finally out onto an observation deck, overlooking an enormous room full of red pipes of varying sizes. The air was warmer, and Lissa eagerly stripped off her outer gloves, feeling confident she wouldn't get frostbite down here at least.

"This place is _huge_ ," Lissa observed, as Falman took them down the nearby stairs to the floor of the room. "How far down did we go, anyway?"

"This is the lowest level of Fort Briggs, actually," the Second Lieutenant explained.

Ed peered around curiously. "It's warm down here—not like it was up above." He grabbed Lissa's hand when she put her gloves away, keeping close to her like he knew she was still off kilter from before—even if he didn't know _why_ just yet. She would tell him… But later, when they had a little privacy. When she could cry if she needed to.

"All the fort's most important functions—its lifelines—come through here. Even if the fort's attacked, this area will remain safe. It's kind of the heart of everything down here." Falman stepped aside while Ed, Al, and Lissa looked around in a sort of astonishment. It was just…so damn _big_ , all of it.

Lissa sensed the disturbance behind them and yanked Ed out of the way by his shoulders, both narrowly avoiding a worker as he brushed right past them. "Keep outta the way, kids," he complained at them irritably. "Not a great place to stand!"

Ed wrinkled his nose at the guy's back. "Sorry," he muttered.

"That was rude," Lissa sighed, shaking her head.

Falman shrugged helplessly. "Eh, you get used to it here. Everybody's just…focused on working, really. The General knows how to light a fire under anyone's ass."

"Doesn't mean they have to…" But Lissa trailed off, the muscles in her shoulders seizing as her senses came alive. _Pins-and-needles… Okay, what exactly is so damned important, then?_ She ignored Falman's baffled look as she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to focus in on the Dragon's Pulse. Briggs had so many _people_ , it was difficult to piece apart what was bugging her, what had nudged past the usual damper she had on her senses to grab her attention.

"Are you sensing something?" Al asked her, sounding worried.

Lissa nodded hesitantly. "Yeah… It feels like…"

But she didn't get to finish her sentence. The ground rumbled beneath their feet, the whole room seeming to tremble. There was a tremor like an earthquake—and Lissa staggered into Ed, both unbalanced, as the floor underneath a large pipe _ripped open_ , dust and debris exploding upward. A klaxon alarm blared as the Briggs soldiers scrambled into action, but the three alchemists remained where they were, watching in horror as an enormous being crawled up from the ground.

He was… _huge_ , a monster of a creature with a thickly-muscled body, oversized limbs, and metal cuffs around his wrists dangling chains to either side of him. His hair was black, hanging limp and stringy down from his head—and his eyes were mismatched, one eerie and white and the other a concentric red circle, trailing a red line down from his face and onto his arm.

Lissa's senses roiled with the unmistakable, horrific feeling of worms writhing in the dirt.

"He's a homunculus," she hissed, staring ahead at the creature. "I know it, I can feel him, there's nothing else that feels like that."

"A homunculus?!" Ed echoed, recoiling in shock. "So they found us?!"

If the homunculi already knew they were here, at Briggs, and they'd sent this—horrible thing to deal with them… Lissa brought her arms to bear, expecting a fight. This was _bad_. Had they really been found out so easily?!

The homunculus stared at them, sharp teeth bared in a sort of grimace. He wavered, looking ready to fight…

And then dropped his head down to his chest and began to _snore_.

"You're _sleeping_?!" Ed shrieked, half stunned and half angry.

The homunculus startled back awake, and peered around himself in a sort of…confusion, Lissa thought. "What's this?" he rumbled in a deep, bone-rattling voice.

Ed glanced at Lissa uncertainly. "Um… I'm guessing—that creepy guy back in Central who you call _Father_ told you about us?" he edged.

"But you see, we're just here trying to find a way to get our bodies back!" Al hurried to add. "That's all!"

"We're not doing anything wrong!" Lissa interjected, nodding.

The homunculus tipped his head to one side and regarded them, still seeming oddly confused by everything. "Why…should I care…about you?" His speech was slow, deliberate, like every word was a monumental effort just to get out.

"The hell?" Lissa whispered, stunned.

He sighed heavily. "Go dig…a hole," he complained. "How annoying." The homunculus turned and began shuffling off past them, muttering to himself the whole way. "Really… What a…pain…"

"He's not attacking us," she murmured, looking at the boys in shock.

Ed furrowed his brow. "You mean…he doesn't know?"

Al leaned in and brought a hand to his face, whispering, "No. I don't think he's heard about us from Father _or_ Führer Bradley. So that means-"

Lissa cut through the air, shimmering blue as she rammed her arm into Ed's side and shoved him out of the way, just as Captain Buccaneer fired a single round at Ed from above. "What the hell was that about?!" she demanded, stepping in front of a very startled Ed.

Buccaneer glared down at her, still aiming his gun her way. "Ah-hah! So it turns out you really _are_ Drachman spies!"

"We aren't spies!" Lissa yelled back, incensed.

Al shook his head fiercely. "We really aren't!"

"Don't lie to me! I saw you talking to the intruder like you knew who he was!" Buccaneer accused harshly.

"No we weren't!" Ed screamed up to him.

Yet Buccaneer wouldn't listen for a moment. "Your lies won't fool me!"

Lissa felt Ed grab onto her shoulder tightly, stepping up beside her as he yelled, "I'm not lying! We've never even _met_ that guy!"

The displacement alerted Lissa just in time—she twisted towards the boys and rammed her palms together, creating a centralized compression of air that knocked her, Ed, and Al out of the way just as the homunculus flung a huge piece of piping straight at them. She rolled backwards with the force of her own blast, while Al managed to grab ahold of Ed's wrist and yank him back, all three landing in a bit of a heap nearby.

"D'you think he'll believe us now?" Al muttered, rising to a crouch and peering up at the Briggs soldiers, who had lined up to begin firing on the homunculus.

"I fucking hope so," Ed growled. "Who the hell is this guy, anyway? Which one is he?"

Lissa rested her knee on the floor as she tied her hair back, stuffing her earmuffs into her pocket so they didn't get in the way. "I'm guessing Sloth? Just by the way he talks. He's just…" She swallowed reflexively. "Bigger than I expected."

"It could be worse," Al offered. "He could be as big as Envy."

Ed groaned and passed a hand over his face. "Please, Al. Don't jinx us." He got to his feet and squinted across the room—then hissed out a breath through his teeth as the soldiers tried and failed to attack Sloth. "Dammit. Looks like this one's impervious to guns. This just got a hell of a lot worse."

"And he's…operating a lift." Lissa tugged at her own ponytail in distress. "Okay, seriously, what the hell is with this homunculus?"

"I have no idea," Ed admitted.

Al stared worriedly up after Sloth. "Isn't that lift taking him up to the Development Sector?" he asked, sounding anxious.

"Shit, you're right." Ed nodded firmly at Lissa. "C'mon, let's see if we can help!"

They took off running after the Briggs soldiers, Falman right on their heels, forced to go the long way up through the stairwell since Sloth had quite literally taken off with the elevator. The whole place was a mess of chaos and commotion, but all sort of _purposeful_ , like everyone knew where they were supposed to be. Halfway up, that obnoxious klaxon alarm shut off. Lissa wondered at that. She guessed everyone must know there was something wrong at this point, so there was no use keeping it on, in the end.

The three emerged onto the R&D floor as Sloth went barreling through a makeshift barricade, and sent a huge metal locker flying straight at a few soldiers.

"Liss! I need a boost!" Ed shouted, sprinting ahead.

Lissa flung her arms forward and skidded to a halt. "Keep running, I've got you!" she yelled back. She sent alchemic energy scurrying along his path, parting the air around him and lending him extra speed as he raced for the endangered soldiers. With her help, Ed reached them in time and clapped his hands, slamming his palms on the ground and raising an enormous stone hand up as cover. It caught the locker midair, knocking it back and saving the three Briggs men who had been in its path.

Ed let out a heavy sigh and knelt there a moment, while Lissa and Al caught up to him. She approached and tucked an arm under Ed's, pulling him to his feet beside her and exchanging a fierce sort of grin. "I'm getting better at that, aren't I?" she asked, a bit breathlessly.

"Damn right you are," he told her, tugging on a loose strand of her hair. "Thanks for the assist."

Lissa waved him off. "It's nothing. Now, c'mon. We've got work to do, yeah?"

Ed nodded quickly, and the three hurried over to where General Armstrong sat crouched upon a tank, as though that sort of firepower would give her an edge. Lissa knew better—this homunculus might as well be impervious to _everything_ , from what she'd seen.

"It won't work!" Ed yelled, as they reached the General. "Try whatever you want to, but he won't die!"

She stood up straight and stared down at them. "He won't?"

"Just what are you saying?" Buccaneer demanded, from where he stood beside the tank. "How does a kid like you know something like that, huh?"

Ed gritted his teeth. "Be—because we…"

"Drop the act!" General Armstrong snapped, ramming the sheath of her sword against the metal of the tank's armor. "You will answer all my questions clearly and completely! Both of you!" She narrowed her eyes. "First off. How do you know about that _thing_? Are you Drachman spies?"

"No!" Lissa shouted back, frustrated that they were on that same issue.

Ed glared up at the General. "We're not spies!"

"Is that thing a spy?" she pressed, pointing at Sloth.

Twisting his mouth up, Ed shook his head this time. "I really doubt it!"

"Does that thing know you?"

"No, apparently not," Ed told her honestly.

The General eyed Lissa. "Either of you?"

"Neither one of us," Lissa confirmed, as fiercely as she could manage.

Then the General asked the question she'd been absolutely dreading to hear. "What is that thing?" she demanded.

Ed's jaw clenched hard. "We can't answer."

Still, General Armstrong wasn't deterred. "Who does that thing work for?"

"We can't answer that!" he snapped, anger seeping through the cracks. Lissa caught his arm and pulled him back, though she was combatting her own rage and injustice at the stupid position they were in now.

The General's gaze turned sharp. "Why can't you answer me?"

Ed spoke one more time through clenched teeth, his voice tight. "We can't answer."

"Please, try to understand," Lissa begged, willing the General to recognize the deeper implications of their struggle, to recognize why exactly they couldn't dare answer. "We can't answer those questions. We _can't_." _Dammit, you have to see that we aren't trying to cause problems! That's not what we want!_

She took a moment to regard the two state alchemists, her expression severe, unyielding. Then she jutted her chin out and squared her shoulders. "This is my last question. Are you on our side, or are you in league with that thing?"

"We're _not_ working with him," Lissa denied fiercely.

Ed gripped her hand tightly, a united force against things they could scarcely fight. "We don't want to see anyone here get hurt."

The General stared down at them, contemplating, giving nothing away in her face—then she exhaled sharply and nodded towards Sloth. "Then tell me what that thing's made of."

Lissa breathed a sigh of relief. That was more or less in the right direction.

"His body's structure and compositional elements are probably the same as a human's," Ed told her, seeming a bit relieved himself.

General Armstrong gave Sloth a thoughtful look. "The same as a human's, huh?"

Lissa shot Ed a surprised glance as she realized how clever he'd been— _the same as a human's_ very subtly implied that Sloth was _not_ human. Easy enough to extrapolate just by looking at him, naturally, but it was a confirmation for General Armstrong that what they were dealing with was decidedly _in_ human. A careful risk, reaching out like that, but she was hopeful it'd make a difference not just in fighting the homunculus, but getting the General to trust them as well.

"Buccaneer!" the General ordered. "Bring me some tank fuel, now! We're going to douse it."

"Burning him won't do a thing," Lissa denied, frowning up at her. Had she not understood what they'd said at all?

Ed scowled too. "I told you, it won't work, General! You can set him on fire, but he still won't die!"

But the General's fierce expression didn't change. "I understand. I learned from our last attack that we can't kill it. The best that we can hope for is to stop or delay it. So we'll have to hit it with something even stronger than fire."

"Stronger than fire?" Lissa repeated, baffled.

The General smirked across at Sloth. "Now you get to see the Briggs way, kid."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "Uh… The Briggs way?"

"That's right," Buccaneer cackled, resting his enormous hands atop Edward and Lissa's heads. "Come, alchemists… Gimme a hand."

With that, he grabbed Ed up under one arm and Lissa under the other, simply carting them away by sheer force of size. Lissa squeaked rather indignantly, not exactly a fan of being manhandled like this—especially by some hulking _soldier_ she hadn't even met before that day! It was pretty damned invasive, honestly!

"Brother! Lissa!" Al gasped, hurrying after them.

Buccaneer turned to him. "You too, tin man," he ordered.

Ed glared up at the Captain. "Hey, hold on a minute! We can't just-"

But a gun suddenly was pressed to his temple by a nearby soldier, at a jerk of Buccaneer's chin, and Ed clamped his lips together, staring at it in shock.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" Lissa demanded, trying to reach the soldier's arm to either yank the gun away or push it so it wasn't aimed at Ed's goddamned _brain_. She was really, really through with people pointing guns at her damned boyfriend, for fuck's sake!

"You were forced to help us under duress," Buccaneer laughed, nodding at the soldier, who turned the gun to face _her_ then. "How does that excuse work for you?"

An excuse…to help. A way to cover their asses against the homunculi! Dammit but that was _smart_ , it was a solid alibi—and believable, considering the Briggs soldiers' reputation.

"Hmm? Who's this?" Buccaneer wondered, encountering Falman standing in his path.

Ed grinned slyly. "He's an old friend of ours!"

"Ah." The Captain smirked and nodded in Falman's direction next. "Then he'll help too!" he announced, much to Falman's distress.

So with yet another gun at their backs, wielded by Buccaneer himself this time, Ed and Lissa were forced into carrying heavy canisters of fuel up the stairs, under the Captain's watchful eye—though he grinned the entire time, apparently enjoying himself tremendously. Lissa couldn't say she felt the same. "So what exactly is our plan?" she asked over her shoulder, giving a wary look to the gun only a couple feet away from her back. She'd placed herself between Ed and the weapon, though she didn't really think they'd be shot at this point.

"We're gonna cover that thing in tank fuel, and knock it outside to freeze it," he explained, as they emerged into a small room just outside a set of elevator doors. "I saw you using alchemy before, right, moving the air around." Buccaneer pointed above their heads, to a series of pipes hanging parallel to the ceiling. "Think you can get a few people up there?"

Lissa set her canister down and stretched her fingers. "No problem. Who's going up?"

"You, the red runt, and the Second Lieutenant." Buccaneer thumped Al's shoulder. "Me and the big guy will hide out down here."

"Got it." Lissa sucked in a deep breath, feeling the air currents around them, already plotting how to handle it. "Ed, you go up first, then I'll send Falman up after you." That was the safest way, she figured—since Falman wasn't an alchemist _or_ acrobat, he'd have the toughest time actually being flung up into the rafters.

Ed nodded once, and bent his knees, ready. Lissa twisted her hands out in front of her, taking hold of the air beneath Ed—and forced it upwards with a sharp jerk of her hands. He sprang up with the boost, easily swinging up and sitting on one of the pipes.

"Okay, up you go, Falman!" Lissa didn't give him any further warning—she just boosted him right up. Thankfully Ed was ready for it, and caught Falman by the arm, hauling him up alongside him. Next went three gasoline canisters, one for each of them, and finally Lissa sprang herself up there, an easy transmutation that left shimmering energy in her wake.

She flashed Buccaneer and Al a thumbs up once they were in place. "Ready up here!"

Down below, Buccaneer all but dragged poor Al through a doorway off to the side, hiding there in the shadows to wait for Sloth to appear. Lissa supposed they just had to trust that the General and her team downstairs would get him onto the elevator— _somehow_ —and that this magical fuel trick would work. A bit anxious, she peered over at Ed, who mirrored her expression immediately. It probably shouldn't have been reassuring that he was worried too, but it was, for whatever reason.

Finally, the elevator doors _dinged_ open, and Sloth shuffled out, bewildered that he'd shown up somewhere random. Buccaneer leapt out behind him and quite literally _flipped_ the giant homunculus over his head, slamming him down on the floor. "All right!" Buccaneer shouted up. "Do it now!"

Immediately, Ed, Lissa, and Falman emptied their canisters on the homunculus's head. Al leapt out from the doorway and added his too, and in seconds, Sloth was completely covered in fuel.

Buccaneer grinned and clenched his fists. "Nice!"

Lissa jumped down from the pipes and cushioned the air around her, softening her own fall as well as Ed and Falman's—the latter of whom seemed _very_ afraid to fall from that height, but trusted Ed and Lissa at least—and stared at Sloth's drenched form in confusion. "Well… We did that," she mused.

"So now what?" Al pressed, looking back at Buccaneer.

Ed grimaced as he regarded the homunculus. "Yeah, how were you planning to get this big guy through the gate, exactly?"

Sloth sniffed his arm and mumbled, "Mh… Stink."

The elevator chimed again—and while Buccaneer stepped back with a grin and a salute, Ed, Lissa, and Al just _screamed_ and jumped out of the way as a damned _tank_ came rolling out into the hallway. A tank! All the way up there!

"Move it, you little runt!" General Armstrong snapped, when Ed didn't leap back fast enough.

Lissa snagged his cloak and pulled him into her, wrapping an arm around his middle as the tank rolled just off the edge of the elevator. Then, with a deafening _boom_ , it fired a defused round right into Sloth's stomach. The impact knocked him clean through the doors behind him, slamming the homunculus into the railing outside, where he stood uncertainly, clearly baffled again.

The General ducked down into the tank. "Hey! One more!" she demanded.

But the driver inside called back, "We're out of ammo!"

"Well, in that case…" Falman drew his pistol and fired—not at Sloth, but at the icicles above the creature's head. A couple shattered and landed on him, stunning the homunculus.

Sloth muttered, "Hey… Ow…"

"You! Starlight!" General Armstrong barked. "I know what you can do—now make yourself useful!"

Ed gripped her shoulder. "Liss, be careful," he warned.

She grinned at him tightly—then strode forward, arms outstretched as the homunculus staggered a step towards her, readying himself to attack, she assumed. But Lissa was faster. She ducked through the air, between the ambient particles, and shifted within arm's reach of the homunculus, too fast for him to grab. With a yell, she rammed her palms together and compressed the air, then expanded it—right into Sloth's torso.

Sloth toppled off the edge of the fort, landing in a heap in a snowdrift below.

The force of the blast slid her backwards, her boots losing purchase on the icy metal, but Ed caught her from behind and grinned at her widely. "Nice!" he told her, keeping her steady with an arm around her waist. He and Al had both followed her outside, clearly intending to back her up if she needed it, and the thought made her feel warm despite the freezing air.

Buccaneer approached them from behind. "That fuel is specially blended for the cold," he explained, smirking. "It'll vaporize almost instantly, and as it evaporates, it'll sap his body heat." He gestured at the snow whipping around them. "This blizzard will help too. It'll freeze him, right down to his brain."

Lissa peered over the edge, pressing her hand over Ed's to keep him close, and watched from a distance as Sloth's body began to freeze over. _Damn. We just…took out a homunculus._

"You can sleep there until spring, monster," the General muttered darkly, coming to stand alongside the group. "All right, Buccaneer." She jerked her chin towards the alchemists. "Now take these three away."

"Sir!" Buccaneer agreed immediately.

In seconds, their hands were bound and Buccaneer was dragging Ed and Lissa off, with Al and Falman being led along by another soldier. Lissa could only scowl at the ceiling, annoyed that she wasn't strong enough to shake the Captain off.

"Hey, hey, hold on a second!" Ed complained. "We helped you! Why are you doing this? How can-"

"You were forced to," the General explained smoothly. "That was just the excuse you needed to fight, wasn't it?" Her voice darkened. "Besides which, I'm not letting you go anywhere until you explain exactly what that thing was and what it wanted."

 _But we can't,_ Lissa thought desperately. _Winry and Alex will be killed if we say a fucking thing!_

Apparently off the hook for the night, Ed, Al, and Lissa were separated from Falman and taken to the damned _brig_ , rather than military quarters, which was…insulting to say the least. At least the Briggs soldiers set up a couple cots and gave Al a stool, a slightly nicer touch than just the barren cells they passed on their way.

"This is so stupid," Ed grumbled, sitting hard on the nearest cot and dropping his head into his hands. "It's not like we're _trying_ to hide stuff."

"It could be worse," Al offered helpfully. "At least General Armstrong trusted us during the attack—and she wants to hear us out, I think. Otherwise she would've just thrown us out earlier. _And_ she wants to help find Mei."

Lissa wanted to share in his optimism, she really did, but as she sank down on the other cot with a heavy heart, she knew she fell much closer to Ed's frustrated pessimism in the moment. "But she knows we're hiding things. And she doesn't seem the type to just…let us go on about our lives without telling her. I dunno what we're gonna do about that."

Al glanced between the two a bit wearily. "You should probably try and sleep," he suggested quietly, taking a seat on his little stool. "We can't do anything for tonight, anyway."

"I guess so," Ed agreed, though he was clearly unhappy about it.

Trying for a little propriety, Lissa kicked off her boots and stuck them under the cot, going through the motions of getting ready to sleep—but recently…she'd grown so accustomed to sharing with Edward that she just…wasn't sure about sleeping on her own. Least of all in an unfamiliar place, in the cold…

Yet when she stole a glance at Ed, she saw him doing the same thing, removing his boots and adjusting his own cot, like nothing was bothering him. He even lay his cloak out over the blanket, clearly trying to add a little warmth.

 _Okay, well… It is a strange situation here,_ Lissa told herself, trying to find reasons for it. _Maybe he'd feel awkward sharing right here with Al, too, and with guards posted down the hall… I guess that makes sense._ She couldn't quite pretend some part of it didn't…sting, though.

"Liss, what are you doing?" Ed asked her curiously, when she went to pull her own blankets back.

Lissa eyed him guiltily. "Um… Going to sleep?"

He laughed fondly and shook his head. "C'mere. Don't be silly, why would you sleep all the way over there? It's fucking _freezing_ , we'll be warmer together, right?" Ed smirked across at his brother. "And Al won't feel weird about it, will you?"

Al huffed at him. "Don't bring me into this."

"I just mean—it's not weird or anything, just conserving body heat."

That made Al giggle despite himself. "You don't need an excuse, brother."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah…" He pulled back the blankets on the cot he'd claimed and scooted back into the wall, leaving a space just big enough for her if she curled right into him. "Come _on_ , Liss. Don't keep me waiting."

Lissa couldn't help but smile at him—her dummy, her _boyfriend_ , grinning at her like an idiot with slightly pink cheeks and this…hope in his eyes, hope that she wouldn't turn him down. "Well, it's better than freezing over here by myself," she teased lightly, as she slipped in next to him. Lissa shuffled in close as his arms came around her, tucking her head below his chin and closing her eyes, happy despite their tenuous situation.

He flipped the blankets over them, his cloak weighing the thinner cover down, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Try and get some rest, okay?" he murmured.

She slid her hand underneath his jacket and shirt, tracing up his spine just a bit. "You too, Ed. And…" Lissa brushed her thumb across the base of an old scar, something she couldn't recall the origin of, and pulled him in closer. "Don't go anywhere, please?"

Ed tightened his arms around her. "I won't. I promise."


	37. Conspiracies

See? Double-update. I will do my utmost to be consistent, but I do have a lot of doctor's appointments coming up in the next month and a half. Hopefully I'll get a diagnosis and a clear plan, be it meds or treatment, whichever, and this will all blow over. In the meantime, please bear with me. Comments, reviews, any interactions at all will be the most welcome distractions from real life as well.

* * *

"I can't believe this," Lissa grumbled, shaking her restrained hands halfheartedly. She and Ed had woken up to brand-new chains keeping them locked up—a wooden panel with two holes for their wrists, held together by padlocks at each end. Theoretically they could use alchemy to get free…especially with Al's help, though he had a set of restraints all his own, but that would just cause General Armstrong to dislike them even more. So they were stuck, which was…pretty frustrating, to be honest.

Al sighed and nodded wearily. "I still can't believe you two _slept_ through it."

"Hey, we were exhausted," Ed complained. His own restraints rattled as he shimmied his boots on, probably already feeling the cold seeping in.

Lissa finished awkwardly tying her own boots and crossed back to him, sinking down beside him and resting her head on his shoulder. "We'll have to tell her something," she murmured. "She saw you-know-who, and she saw how indestructible he was… I can't even blame her for not letting that go. None of us would."

"I just have no idea what to say," he admitted quietly, leaning his head over onto hers and sighing. "Considering they're holding Winry and the Major over our heads… We _can't_ say anything."

Al shifted uncomfortably. "We have to think of something, though."

They all clammed up as footsteps rang in the hall outside the cell, afraid of being overheard—and a good thing, too, since Neil, the Briggs automail technician, came strolling down to them. "Hey," he greeted easily. "You three sleep well?"

Ed sat up from Lissa and eyed him a bit hesitantly. "I guess, considering…" He held up his restrained hands pointedly.

That just made Neil laugh. He offered Ed the cup of coffee gripped in his hand—but Ed stared at it with his nose wrinkled, a bit suspicious. "I heard you helped defend the fort from that monster," Neil explained. "Go on."

"…This is gonna cost me, isn't it?" Ed muttered. Apparently he was a little distrustful after his experience the day before.

Neil smirked. "One hundred cens. You're catching on."

"I think I'll pass… But thanks anyway," he sighed, leaning back a bit.

Al tilted his head curiously. "So, did you find anything else out?" he asked.

Neil nodded, chewing on the toothpick stuck between his teeth. "We sent a party down to investigate the hole. They should be back anytime now. Oh, also, Major Miles is at the hospital."

Ed frowned up at him. "Is he hurt?"

"I didn't see him get injured last night," Lissa mused, worried a bit as well. Though they'd had a rocky start with Miles, she grudgingly respected him—and besides, they weren't looking to get anybody up here injured.

"He didn't," Neil snorted. "He's there visiting a soldier who was wounded fighting Scar."

Ed glanced sideways at Lissa. "Scar's in the north now?"

She supposed that made sense… And it gave some credence to their tip that Mei Chang had come up here too, since they'd been working together previously. Maybe that was a good sign, though she wasn't exactly eager to come across Scar again.

"Oh! Here they are!"

"They're awake, good."

Lissa blinked in surprise as four other Briggs soldiers filed in around Neil, all grinning down at the three alchemists. Why were they here?

"Thanks for yesterday," one of them piped up, sounding genuine.

Another nodded his agreement. "Yeah. You saved our buddies' lives."

She couldn't help but smile. It was sweet, to know their efforts had actually _mattered_ here—Lissa shuddered to think how bad it could've been if Sloth had shown up when they weren't around… Though it had been just a coincidence they were all here at the same time, she was suddenly grateful to have been involved.

"I'm impressed," Ed told them, smiling. She knew he'd gotten into the same headspace. "You guys stick together. You really seem to care."

"Well, here at Briggs we have to look out for each other," one of the soldiers explained.

"You saved our pals back there," another added, grinning brightly, "so that makes you our pals as well."

Ed held up his restrained hands a bit hopefully. "Well, you want to let your pals out of here, then?" he tried, marshaling his face into something kind of angelic. Lissa nearly laughed outright at his attempt.

"No, we're not allowed to do that. Sorry," the soldiers chimed.

Ed wilted. "It was worth a try, I guess."

Lissa bumped his shoulder with hers and smiled up at the soldiers. "We're glad we were here to help," she told them. "Is everyone okay?"

One bobbed his head quickly. "Yeah, no casualties, thanks to you guys."

 _Thank goodness._

All the soldiers snapped to attention as Buccaneer strode up, taller than any of them and bearing an armful of rope. "All right, you three. The General wants to see you."

"Do we get these off at least?" Lissa asked, holding her hands up.

Buccaneer grinned. "Yeah, you can have those off. But you're not goin' around loose just yet." He shook his arm, where that coil of rope sat, and Lissa exchanged an unhappy grimace with Ed. But there was nothing for it, really—so they all consented to be tied around the waist, outside their coats at least, and only once they were secure did Buccaneer open the cell and unlock the cuffs around their wrists. Lissa rubbed at hers, where the wood had chafed her skin, as Buccaneer took the ends of the ropes and led them out of the cellblock.

"So what does General Armstrong want us for?" Ed asked, as they followed the Captain down through the base.

"Our investigations team came back from that hole—but they couldn't find the end. We figured a couple state alchemists might have better luck figuring out what the hell is going on down there." Buccaneer shrugged. "So we're taking horses and supplies, and you three lucky kids get to come on in with us."

Lissa grimaced at that. "Great. We won a trip down the creepy hole in the ground."

"At least it won't be snowing?" Ed offered weakly.

Al nodded. "And you can keep your fingers out, I bet. So that'll be nicer."

She couldn't help but smile at the boys, feeling so fond of them. "Well, I can accept that much at least."

Buccaneer brought them out onto the R&D floor, where they joined up with Falman—also tied around the waist—and General Armstrong. Using winches and cranes, their group was lowered into the hole where a handful of horses waited, pawing and snorting anxiously. Lissa had never really ridden a horse before save the one time in Xerxes, not that she remembered, but she knew enough to get herself into the saddle at least. She stuck her foot into the stirrup and hauled herself up over the saddle, swinging her right leg across, and sat there watching as Ed stared up at his own horse a bit hesitantly.

"Hey, Ed," she hissed, leaning over her horse's neck and getting his attention. "Remember, use your automail—left leg into the stirrup, and right arm to pull yourself up. It'll be easier."

He scrunched his nose. "It's not my fault the stupid horse is so—damn _tall_."

Lissa grinned at his plight. They _were_ taller than the ones they'd used in the desert. "Just trust me, dummy."

Ed sighed heavily, frustrated, but did as she said anyway—and finally managed to haul himself up into the saddle, a bit unsteadily but in one motion, at least. He shot her a look afterwards, and she just winked at him, amused. Those few inches really made a difference.

Impatient, General Armstrong started off down the tunnel, and the three alchemists—and poor Falman—had no choice but to follow when Buccaneer headed on after her, nudging his horse forward. Thankfully the horses were Briggs horses, sturdy and well-trained enough to just follow without much effort. That was good…because Lissa could see the boys had very little idea what to do, either. They just sort of held the reins and hoped.

"Awesome," Ed breathed, as they rode deeper in. "This is a serious tunnel."

"I wonder how long it's taken to excavate," Lissa murmured, staring up at the shadowed ceiling above them. "Was it just that…creature, or did he have help?"

General Armstrong growled low in her throat. "I still can't believe that an intruder was able to get this far through our defenses," she muttered.

Ed looked at her curiously. "So has anyone ever made it into the fort before?"

"No, not in all the time I've had command here," the General told him. So that's why she was so sore about it—this had never happened to her before, not even a single time. "But once, nearly twenty years ago, there was a strange incident where the Mountain Guard was attacked in the middle of winter. Apparently, a mysterious woman stole food and supplies for a full month."

Lissa stared sideways at the boys, utterly shocked. They'd said Izumi survived up here for—for a _month_. So that was _true_?! _And I survived her. Holy shit._

"This should be far enough," the General announced suddenly, reining her horse in. "You three. Dismount."

With no other options, Ed, Al, and Lissa all dismounted from their horses right there in the tunnel. Buccaneer grabbed a crate for the General to sit on, while Falman dismounted too, still being carted along with everybody else, a hostage in his own right, really. Thankfully, safely down in the tunnel now, they could be released from the ropes at least. The General sat her lantern down beside her as she settled onto the crate, and rammed the sheath of her sword against the stone floor of the tunnel. "Now then," she began shortly. "We're safely away from any prying eyes. You can tell me everything without fearing discovery. And I mean _everything_. Don't hold anything back."

Lissa gripped Ed's sleeve tightly. Was she… Did she really mean what it sounded like?

"Yesterday I asked you about that monster," General Armstrong continued, her voice firm. "Remember what you said? _I can't answer._ And you begged for my understanding." That was directed at Lissa, making her suck in a sharp breath. She had. She absolutely had. "You two refused me. And that, even as a hint, is a dangerous thing to do. I told you to answer my questions fully and completely. At great peril to yourself, you neglected to do so." She regarded them severely. "I think there's something you're trying to hide, and you'd risk your lives to protect it. Something… Or maybe _someone_."

Ed slid his hand down to Lissa's, his fingers threading between hers. General Armstrong had figured it out so… _easily_. She knew. She'd sensed _all_ of it. There was no pretending otherwise now.

"This time, don't lie to me," the General ordered sharply. "I want the truth."

Lissa clenched down on Ed's hand. _Go for it,_ she urged him inside her own head. _She's opening this up to us, she took the threats seriously and brought us all the way down here… We've got to do this, Ed. You have to know that._

Ed met General Armstrong's gaze with a fierce one of his own. He sucked in a deep breath—and put everything, absolutely everything on the line as he told her, "We need your help, General."

Her blue eyes flicked over their faces, studying them, searching for signs that they were lying. But finding none, she inclined her head, just faintly. "Tell me everything. And we will see what can be done."

So they did. Lissa, Ed, and Al told General Armstrong _everything_. From the original search for the Philosopher's Stone, Scar's appearance, the Fifth Laboratory… The homunculi, Mustang's involvement, the Xingese, the identity of Führer Bradley, Father… And the hostages over their heads. Winry…and Alex. Lissa knew she wasn't imagining the harshness that set into the General's gaze when she admitted that Alex was the hostage being dangled over her, used against her as a motivator to do whatever the homunculi wanted. They told her every piece of information, every scrap they could come up with, and laid it all out in front of her without a single lie.

When they finished, ending with their reasons for coming to Briggs in the first place, Lissa felt…oddly free, somehow. Keeping so much to themselves was…hard, she realized. It was so damn difficult handling it all on their own.

For a while, General Armstrong sat there, tapping one finger on her opposite hand, taking in everything they'd told her. "The Philosopher's Stone," she mused finally, her brow furrowed. "Homunculi. Führer King Bradley. A mysterious man called _Father_. Corruption in the senior staff."

"There are hostages involved as well," Buccaneer pointed out.

General Armstrong inclined her head towards Edward. "Your childhood friend, the automail engineer… All Mustang's men… And my own brother."

Lissa bowed her head. That was her fault, and her fault alone.

Yet the General moved past it immediately. "We've done some joint training with Eastern Command over the years, so I know officers Hawkeye and Havoc, and I'd hate it if we lost either of them. I would like to help them." Well…at least she cared some about Riza and Havoc.

Falman lifted his hand hopefully. "And, um… What about Colonel Mustang?"

"Yeah… I couldn't care less about him," the General told him bluntly. "I'd just as soon see him fall from power. That would eliminate another rival."

Lissa bit down on her lip to keep her jaw from dropping. _Well, Mustang… That's an obstacle I'd like to see you bypass._

"Never mind him. There's nothing we can do for the hostages here, anyway, and it's useless to linger on such a dead end." The General got to her feet decisively. "The question is, what do we do next?" She jerked her thumb to the side, pointing down into the darkness. "This tunnel here. I would like to know what you alchemists make of it."

 _Now that's something I can focus on._

Ed exchanged a look with Al, and immediately got to work, crouching down and testing the cart tracks stretching along the floor, while Al checked the wall. Lissa hesitated only a moment—before stripping her coat off and tossing it aside. She was ultra-conscious of the General's eyes on her as she yanked her sweater over her head too and threw it atop her coat, leaving her arms bare but for her gloves, until she put those aside too. That left her in just a tank top on her upper half, not enough clothes for the climate…but it would have to do for now.

"What exactly are you doing?" General Armstrong asked, sharp-eyed.

Lissa rolled her shoulders as the frigid air currents brushed along her exposed skin, raising chills all over. "My alchemy is a bit different than the boys'," she explained, twisting her hands in front of her. The tattoos on her hands glowed blue and the air crackled with the same energy, concentrated around her hands and forearms. "I work in what's called intangible elements—which just means small particles that most alchemists can't control. It lets me manipulate the air, among other things. And I can use it to sense air currents, to trace them or harness them, depending on what I need to do." She stretched her arms out in front of her, planting her feet solidly beneath her, and summoned up her energy. The air shimmered blue before her, streaking out into the tunnel and heading off into the darkness. Light flared all along the uneven surface, casting wild shadows, yet still Lissa pushed, reached further and further into the unyielding dark.

She could feel the air rushing along, the currents twisting and racing their way through the tunnel… But…there didn't seem to be any real direction. It took a slow, ambling curve, but no matter how far Lissa pushed her energy and her senses…she found no walls, no sharp turns, no end.

"Damn," she breathed, finally releasing the alchemy and letting her arms fall to her sides.

Ed stood up beside her, his brow furrowed. "I think you just confirmed a theory for me," he murmured, bending and picking up her sweater, which he offered to her sort of anxiously. "You didn't find an end, did you?"

Lissa shook her head. "No. And only minute changes in the currents, nothing to suggest much of a doorway within at least a few miles, maybe more. I'm hesitant to expend the energy it would take to check further, but it seems to just keep curving, at about the same angle as far as I reached."

"I didn't feel any exits nearby either," Al told them, his armor clanking as he approached. "Not much of anything, honestly. Just solid bedrock."

Ed snagged up Lissa's coat as well, and slid it onto her arms as he considered that. "So…that means…" His golden eyes lit up with a spark of inspiration. "Why, though? Why would it be… Mh… I'm so turned around down here."

"Hang onto that thought," Lissa urged him. "We can figure it out." She jogged over to Falman, knowing damn well where Ed was going with this—but they needed to confirm it. "Do you have a compass and a map, Falman?"

He nodded and reached into his bag immediately. "Yeah, I've got one. What kind of map? Just of the North Area or all of Amestris?"

"Amestris," Al piped up quickly, catching on.

Falman produced what they needed, and Ed hurried to spread the map out on a crate, settling the compass atop it to check. Sure enough, north pointed directly into the wall in front of them—nowhere _near_ where the tunnel curved.

"Well?" the General demanded, staring down over their shoulders. "What are you thinking?"

Ed looked up at her from where he'd knelt down. "First of all, this tunnel didn't originate in Drachma," he told her.

"Are you certain?"

Lissa nodded firmly. "Absolutely. I sensed the curvature of the tunnel based on the ambient air currents running through it—and it didn't turn anywhere _near_ Drachma."

"This is just my guess," Ed added, "based on what we found, but I'd say if we went far enough, chances are we'd find it's dug in the shape of an enormous circle."

"Why?" Buccaneer wondered, staring down as well.

"It has to do with alchemy," Ed explained. "In our field, a circle is the symbol used to control the flow of power." He beckoned to Lissa with the pencil he'd borrowed from Falman. "Liss, you got a sense for the curvature, right? Can you approximate that for me?"

She knelt down beside him and stared at the map, tapping her finger to where Briggs sat along the very top, at the tiny crescent-shaped dip in the border of Amestris. "It was a pretty gradual curve…" she murmured, taking a breath as she recalled the feeling of the air, the general angle it took. "So…I'd guess…" Slowly, Lissa traced her finger along the map, following a path outward from Briggs and through the East Area, near the very border of the country. Extrapolating from what she'd felt, she traced that path the whole way around and back to Briggs…all around the circumference of Amestris itself.

"The whole country," Ed murmured, frowning. "We need to look at this more closely. Briggs is a definite point, but…" He tapped a spot further down, on the very edge of the East Area. "Did you go through here?" he asked her.

Lissa squinted down, keeping her spatial orientation in mind as she regarded where he'd indicated. "Yeah, straight through. But that's…" _Ishval._ Ed was pointing out _Ishval._

"It is," he confirmed softly.

She sucked in a sharp breath. "You're not thinking…"

"You said it yourself," Ed pointed out reluctantly, as he circled the spot on the map. "When we came down here, you wondered how long it had taken."

"And if Sloth didn't have any help…" Lissa stared down at the map with renewed tension.

"Lieutenant Falman." Ed looked up at him as the Second Lieutenant stepped closer. "Can you list the major events in Amestris that were accompanied by bloodshed?"

Falman's brow furrowed. "By bloodshed? Our history's pretty rough. That's most events."

Lissa licked her lips anxiously. "Not just small skirmishes. Big events—like Ishval. Ones that made a real impact in their locations."

He frowned and knelt beside them, regarding the map now as he thought. "What are you getting at?" he murmured. But then, as he stared down at where Ed had circled Ishval, so close to Resembool, right along where Lissa had traced the circle—Falman sucked in a harsh breath and leaned in closer, his posture going tense. "First, there's July 1588. In Rivière," he began, pointing out a small town near the borders of the North and West Areas, just narrowly in the west.

Ed circled that one as well. "Okay, Rivière. Next."

"October 1661. The Cameron Uprising," Falman continued, denoting the next point, which Ed circled as well. "February 1799. The Soapman Incident. Right there, in Fisk." Another circle. "Then March 1811. The Wellesley Incident." Ed circled it as well. "October 1835. The first Southern Border War, in what is now known as South City."

 _Some of these are further inside the border than where I showed… But some are right on that line too… But… That would mean… It looks just like… Oh, no._

"Then, in 1911, there was the second Southern Border War in Fotosett," Falman ploughed on, indicating a city in the far southwest of the South Area.

Lissa pointed at an as-yet unmarked area in the West Area. "What about up here?"

"Yeah, you traced right over…Pendleton, I think." Ed tapped the city's dot with the tip of his pencil. "Was there anything in Pendleton, Lieutenant?"

Falman considered that. "There's been fighting with Creta… A lot of soldiers have died. And then…" He broke off for a moment, sighing and regarding Ed and Lissa a bit reluctantly. "Later, in 1914… There was the Liore Insurrection. There were many casualties."

"What?" Ed breathed, looking up at him sharply.

"An insurrection?" Al clanked as he stepped closer. "But why?"

Lissa felt a chill run through her that had nothing to do with the temperature. "But… Falman… We went through Liore ourselves, we—handled that, I thought."

Ed nodded quickly. "I don't understand. We exposed that fake priest in Liore. And I reported it to Eastern Command immediately."

Falman inclined his head, visibly reluctant. "Yes, you did… But the Central forces pulled rank on us. They came in and ran out the troops from the east. We had it under control, but…after that happened, Liore just fell to pieces."

"Oh, no," Ed groaned, pressing a hand to his face in distress. "Damn!"

"No time for guilt," General Armstrong cut in. "Back to work, Fullmetal, Starlight."

Ed rounded on her, incensed—but Lissa put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him into her. "Ed. Later, okay? We have to focus on this first."

He gritted his teeth, but nodded all the same. "All right. Fine," he growled, and circled Liore on the map. "This follows the curve you sensed, right?" Ed confirmed with her, staring down at the map while he tried to calm himself back down.

Lissa nodded. "The outer spots do, at least. Exactly where I thought."

"Okay. And now…we just connect the dots." Ed traced out the lines on the map—first the larger circle, the one Lissa had denoted at the start, which crossed through Liore, Ishval, Fotosett, and Pendleton. The remaining cities were connected by concentric pentagons, within the outer circle… And as the shape was revealed, Lissa felt her heart drop right through the floor, her stomach churning with a sudden wave of nausea.

 _It's like I thought… Just like we guessed…_

"How is that possible?" Falman asked unsteadily. "It…it looks like the transmutation circle from the Fifth Laboratory!"

Buccaneer scowled down at the map. "Is that so? The Philosopher's Stone array that draws power from human lives. If they make a Philosopher's Stone with something this huge, how many people will have to die?"

"Everyone within the circle would be killed," Lissa told him softly. "So, in this case…"

"Every person in Amestris," General Armstrong murmured.

Ed was still frowning at the map, that crease between his brows telling Lissa so much with so very little effort. She leaned in beside him, following his gaze thoughtfully. "You think there's more here, don't you?" she asked. "More than the transmutation circle being used to turn everyone into a super-powered Philosopher's Stone."

He nodded slowly. "What you said… It keeps bothering me, Liss. Sloth's pretty strong, but it's obvious this tunnel would've taken a long time to excavate, even for him."

"Our timeframe takes us back to…" Lissa consulted the map. "Rivière, right? That was the oldest conflict in the array."

Ed wrote the date in as she spoke. "Yeah, all the way in 1558."

"Right, it was just after the founding of Amestris," General Armstrong pointed out, watching over their shoulders.

Lissa felt something tighten in her stomach. "That was 1550, wasn't it? It's been a while since I took a history class, but… Amestris was founded only eight years before the incident in Rivière." She looked up at Falman, wondering. "Falman… What caused that incident? Amestris was still pretty small then, why did they go after Rivière so soon after declaring their own independence?"

"Well, it was the neighboring country at the time," he began slowly. "We attacked without even declaring war first. Then the military-" But Falman cut himself off with a gasp. "Hey… Wait a minute…" He grabbed up the map and held it up before him, eyes wide with whatever realization had struck him. "That's it, that's the connection. Not just bloodshed—it was the _military_! They were involved in all of it! Each incident was a coup d'état or insurrection!"

"All of them?" Lissa breathed. "I know Ishval and Liore, definitely, but…"

Falman nodded at her. "Every one. And it was just like in Liore—forces from Central would be sent in, and they would make everything worse."

Ed scowled, his jaw clenching. "It's been going on that long?"

"We kept growing… Our country started out as a small nation, but we expanded as we took over more and more neighboring countries." General Armstrong's eyes narrowed as Falman set the map back down. "That was all to create this circle?" she wondered.

"If this started just eight years after Amestris was founded…" Lissa traced her finger along the points Ed had circled, going by year, watching in her mind's eye as the borders expanded.

Ed met her gaze, anxiety mirrored in his gold eyes. "Yeah… Then that would mean…not only are they planning to use this country to do whatever it is they're doing… But they actually _created_ it in the first place for that single purpose."

"My country," General Armstrong hissed.

Lissa touched Ed's knee lightly first, then gripped down as the reality of it all settled into her mind. Their whole country…had been created for this purpose. Just to make an enormous Philosopher's Stone. Yet… Could that really be all? Yes, the stone would be _ridiculously_ powerful, created from so many souls, but…was that the full purpose here? And what were the sacrifices for, then—Ed and Al, and Lissa as a potential? Where did they factor into the homunculi's plans?

 _Could it be…that the sacrifices are like the ones at the Fifth Laboratory? Used to activate the array?_

She dug her fingers into Ed's trouser leg. _I won't let them touch you,_ she swore to herself.

Al's armor clinked as he looked down at them, something darkening his energy a bit. "Do you think… General Hughes…"

"Yeah," Ed agreed solemnly. "Before he was killed, he must've seen the transmutation circle."

Lissa swallowed hard. So Hughes really had been killed for sticking his nose into all this… He'd been trying to convey this exact information, so, _so_ much earlier… It was easy to view him as just a kindhearted family man, but he must have had a wicked sharp eye to have caught something this big so quickly.

"He was serving in the court-martial office. He had all the information about the military incidents…" Ed sighed roughly. "He would've known that something wasn't right. Dammit… Damn them all!"

"I do not like this!" the General snapped, jabbing the end of her sheath against the map. "As far as I can tell, there's only one place left. If you two are right about your theory, then the next place they're going to hit is right here in Briggs. Those bastards in Central…" She growled lowly. "What kind of dirty plans do they have for my fort?! If they think they can-"

Lissa shot to her feet and cut her off with a sharp hand gesture. "Someone's coming, General," she explained, in response to the glare she received.

Sure enough, someone came riding out of the gloom, straight towards them—but in the light from the lantern they carried, it quickly became obvious that it was just a Briggs soldier, not an agent of the homunculi. "General!" he called out. "You're needed back at the fort. Lieutenant General Raven from Central is here to see you."

"Raven's one of the corrupt brass in Central," Lissa murmured under her breath, giving Ed a pointed look as he stood up beside her. "I bet he's here about Sloth."

The General's mouth thinned. "It looks like our time's already up," she observed softly.

Ed looked down at moment, contemplating—then he squared his shoulders and stared right up at her. "Excuse me, General Armstrong. I'd like to ask a favor of you."

Lissa touched his wrist lightly. _Ed, what are you planning? What did you come up with?_

He didn't back down for a moment. "Do you think you could con some information out of General Raven?"

She couldn't help but grin at him, impressed by the idea she could see forming in his mind.

"Hm…" General Armstrong gave him a thoughtful look. "I see where you're going, Fullmetal." She gave a decisive nod. "Yes. I believe I can help you with that. But you'll need to hold up your end as well, all three of you children will. If you screw me over on this…"

"We won't," Lissa assured her firmly. She tried not to quail as the General's eyes raked over her—the girl putting her _brother_ in danger—but finally General Armstrong nodded again, cementing her agreement.

Ed gripped Lissa's hand tightly. "Then we need to hurry."

—

Lissa crawled backwards in the air vent, the metal freezing against her uncovered fingertips, but she didn't dare make a sound. She'd gone in here without her coat, just wearing Ed's black jacket as protection over her sweater since it was the only thing they had thin enough to help against the bitter cold, but still not prevent her from getting all the way in here. Not that Edward had wanted to let her take on that task… But he was busy with his end of the plan, and nobody else was small enough to get in through the vent. Besides, Lissa had the best chance of getting out silently, considering her alchemy.

She'd been given quite a dangerous bit—planting the microphone that would allow them to listen in on General Armstrong's conversation with Lieutenant General Raven. Lissa had only narrowly made it in time, having to crawl through a series of vents to reach the room without detection, and had reached the room and clicked the mic on just as General Raven walked in. From there, she had to make the long, arduous trek back to the little office they were using as a control room for the moment.

What she wanted to do was turn around, but that risked making too much noise. Lissa had never struggled with claustrophobia, honestly…but she really thought _anybody_ would be a bit freaked out if they got stuck going backwards in these tiny-ass little air ducts.

 _Just take deep breaths… You know where to go, it's a straight shot back. Nice and steady._

Lissa bit back a yelp as her foot reached open air, her boot dangling through the open vent she'd come through—but it meant _safety_. She felt something tap the outside of her boot, and slid backwards immediately, releasing herself with the utmost trust that she wouldn't be left to just drop to the ground.

Sure enough, Al caught her in his arms smoothly, and carefully set her down on the floor. Lissa flashed him a grateful smile. "Thanks, little brother," she murmured, squeezing his forearm lightly.

Ed surged up behind her and pulled her into his arms, and she realized he must have been genuinely worried something would happen to her up there. It was comforting to know the separation bothered him just as much. "You okay?" he asked softly, taking her face between his hands.

Lissa tilted her head and pressed a kiss to his palm, through his glove. "I'm fine, Ed. I told you, it wasn't a problem," she reassured him, shrugging out of his jacket and passing it back before slipping her coat back on.

He gave her a look that suggested he knew she'd been anxious up there by herself—but there just wasn't time for worrying like that, not when the two Generals' voices were coming through the receiver already. Eager to hear what was going on, Lissa took Ed by the hand and led him over to where Al, Falman, and Buccaneer had gathered, all listening in as General Armstrong laid her trap.

"…I think it's most appropriate to call it a monster," the General was saying, her tone remarkably even, "but fortunately, we were able to fend it off."

"A monster? What do you mean?" Raven asked.

"We killed it, but it didn't die, sir."

Blunt. Nice and blunt—implying she was being totally honest with him. Lissa would've been surprised if General Armstrong was a poor liar, but even so… It was impressive to hear.

Raven laughed in response, not exactly surprised, it seemed. "Is that so?"

"Originally, I suspected it originated in Drachma—but the Elric brothers and their partner…" She paused as Raven sucked in a sharp breath, surprised. "Didn't I mention? The Starlight and Fullmetal Alchemists are here, as well as Fullmetal's brother. I found it disturbing… They seemed to know about this monster, but they wouldn't talk. Obviously, if we have two state alchemists doubling as spies for Drachma, that's a serious problem. I've locked them up. Perhaps you'd like to speak with them?"

Admitting that Ed, Al, and Lissa recognized Sloth for what he was definitely was a calculated risk—but a necessary one. General Armstrong's own suspicion of them was a purposeful truth within plenty of carefully-wrought lies.

"Hm… Certainly," Raven agreed. Then he pressed on what was clearly more important. "They won't tell you anything?"

"Correct," the General confirmed. "They said they came here to research…living transmutation, or something." She scoffed. "What could be more suspicious? I distrusted them instantly."

Again, truth within the lies. She _had_ distrusted them, when they gave that story.

General Armstrong paused a moment, as though gathering her thoughts. "I had thought about torturing them to get the information… But I am a woman, after all. The thought of hurting those children… Let's just say I couldn't stand it."

Buccaneer laughed heartily. "Now, that's rich! She would've tortured you in a second and not thought twice about it!"

Lissa cringed and exchanged an uncomfortable look with the boys. It wasn't surprising, necessarily, but still unsettling to actually _hear_. General Armstrong was a very different breed than the rest of her family, that was for sure.

"But General Armstrong, aren't you known as the Northern Wall of Briggs?" Raven pressed, sounding amused. "Walls aren't so soft as that."

"Sounds like he wanted her to torture us," Lissa mumbled.

"You know, General Raven," General Armstrong began, a faint smile in her voice—something Lissa hadn't properly heard before, even. "At my age, most women are expected to have had at least a child or two. Unfortunately, I'm well past that now."

"Come now, surely men are lining up to have children with you," Raven protested.

Lissa gagged in the back of her throat.

"Hardly, sir. I hate to say it, but like everybody else, I'm growing older. And my body is too."

Ed jabbed a finger towards the receiver. "There. She's baiting him."

"That Drachman monster, though," the General continued, not lingering on the oh-so pointed bait, "it had an _outstanding_ body. An immortal body. Like something from a dream."

Lissa held her breath. If he took the bait…

"What if I told you that very soon, it wouldn't be a dream anymore?" Raven asked.

Beside her, the boys gasped, and Lissa felt a jolt go through her. He'd…actually taken the damn bait! Just like that! How the hell was it so _easy_? Was this guy so self-assured that he could just…talk like that to General Armstrong, without a single worry for the consequences? _Idiot! I mean, it helps us, but what a fucking idiot._

"Tell me, General," Raven continued, his tone going softer, "would you be interested in a legion of immortal soldiers?"

"He took it!" Ed breathed, excited. "He really took the bait!"

Raven wasn't even finished yet. "Never dying, or getting old… You want it too, don't you?"

Unfortunately, General Armstrong paused long enough for Raven to be confused—though she covered it with a laugh, forcing lightness into her tone as she told him, "Oh, it's—just such an incredible question, I don't know what to say."

"Well, are you interested or not?" he pressed her. "There are only two answers."

"It is…intriguing," General Armstrong conceded, after a moment. "Can you tell me, General… On the day when this _dream_ comes true, will my men share in this gift as well? Or is it only for me?"

"I can tell you when the time comes."

That wasn't much of an answer at all, really. It was less of a guarantee and more of a bargaining chip, really… A potential way to ensure her obedience. Not that General Armstrong was likely to expect anything less than willingness to do what needed to be done, at least from her soldiers… But that was clearly something General Raven just didn't see.

Someone knocked on the door, cutting the conversation short, and Lissa saw Ed's face contort in frustration. But there was nothing for it—one of the Briggs soldiers arrived and explained that something had happened to the team sent to look further into the tunnel, and that immediately became the priority. General Armstrong would be expected to focus on that anyway, so it wasn't strange for her to cut off her discussion with Raven in favor of looking after her own soldiers.

"Right, let's move," Buccaneer announced, rising to his feet.

Lissa, Falman, and Al followed suit—but Ed paused a moment, frowning. "Hold on a sec," he told them, before they could go. He darted over to some of the miscellaneous supplies in the corner, and with a quick burst of blue energy, transmuted a few coils of rope. "It has to look convincing," Ed explained, holding up the end of one.

"I'm really beginning to hate being tied up," Lissa sighed, as Falman followed Buccaneer's instructions for sufficiently binding a prisoner, which he was currently using on Ed and Al.

Ed grinned across at her gamely. "Sorry, Liss. You know I'm right."

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, rolling her eyes at him. "You can make it up to me later."

"Deal," he promised.

Given that it would look odd for Falman to be tied up—since General Armstrong had only mentioned the three alchemists when she spoke to Raven—he was allowed to go free, posing as Buccaneer's second and backup as they headed out into the base. Lissa was grateful to have her hands mostly exposed, at least, though she wasn't sure it was exactly the right way to tie up a prisoner. She suspected Falman had done it purposefully, to give her a little control in case they needed got dragged into a fight or something.

On the way, out of sheer curiosity, Lissa tapped into her senses, trying to feel out the Dragon's Pulse since she hadn't been focusing on it there at Briggs. It was difficult with everything else going on. She was stunned nearly into freezing right there in the hallway when she felt… _Copper-iron sludge… Blood… Slimy all across my skin… But that feels like a Philosopher's Stone. Why the hell am I feeling that?!_

She had no time to focus on it, though. For when Lissa looked up from her boots, she saw Major Miles coming straight towards them—and he had a guest. A man with long black hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a white suit and matching hat, altogether out of place here at Briggs.

"Buccaneer, what are you doing?" Miles asked as their groups met in the middle.

"Prisoner transfer, sir," Buccaneer explained smoothly. "I'm moving the Elric brothers and Lissa Caito from the east cells to the west." He inclined his head at the newcomer. "May I ask who this is?"

Miles' posture tensed slightly. "This is Mr. Solf J. Kimblee. He's General Raven's honored guest."

Lissa almost flinched, sensing Ed struggling with the same beside her. It was impossible not to know that name—Solf J. Kimblee, the Crimson Alchemist. He had been a _nightmare_ in Ishval, lost his mind completely and killed several Amestrian soldiers… So why the _fuck_ was he out here?! He'd been in prison almost as long as Lissa had been in Central!

"Wait, did you say the Elric brothers? And Lissa Caito?" Kimblee tipped up his hat and smiled, a sickly, stomach-curdling expression. "The Fullmetal and Starlight Alchemists?" His gaze flicked right up to poor Al. "I see. Now I understand your nickname."

Wearily, Buccaneer and Falman pointed at Ed, who gave an exasperated look at the whole thing.

"Oh… It's this one?" Kimblee recovered quickly, tipping his hat towards Edward. "Nice to meet you. I've heard much about the Fullmetal Alchemist." His gaze slid sideways, and Lissa felt her muscles clench up in pure, visceral fear as he regarded her. "And of course, his lovely partner, the Starlight Alchemist. It's quite an honor to meet you both."

Lissa resisted the urge to swallow—her throat was too dry for that. "Likewise," she managed, while Ed just stared up at him fiercely.

Miles cleared his throat. "Mr. Kimblee. We should be going."

"Oh, yes, of course." Kimblee flashed another slimy smile and stepped back. "I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you both, soon enough."

When he was gone, Lissa poked a bit hesitantly at her extra senses—but that oil-slick feeling of a Philosopher's Stone had faded with Kimblee. Which meant… That he might well be in possession of a stone. Even an incomplete one, in that horror-show's hands, could be a total catastrophe. But she didn't know what to _do_ with that information. Especially here, with their situation so tenuous… She risked ruining everything if she let that little fact out.

 _Besides… The homunculi don't know I can sense the Dragon's Pulse. That's still private. I can't risk them finding out what I can do._

Buccaneer took them to their cell, and left them there after locking restraints back on their wrists. Lissa accepted it without argument, just in case Raven had brought anyone else along, or even had Kimblee trailing them—though she thought she'd sense him if he got too close.

"I can't believe Kimblee's here," Ed muttered, sinking down on a cot and resting his forearms on his knees. "I didn't even know he was out of prison."

"He had a life sentence, last I knew," Lissa told him. She sat down beside him, while Al took a seat opposite, all three sticking close together out of habit. "The fact that he's been pardoned… It's kind of…" She shook off the word _terrifying_. "Most of the state alchemists I worked with in Central talked about him with a lot of fear. Whatever he's doing here, we need to be careful."

Al sighed heavily. "Do you think he's here to—keep us in line?"

"Maybe," Ed admitted. "It could be anything."

Footsteps clicked on the floor down the hall, and all three fell silent as a guard led General Raven down. The Briggs guard reluctantly let the General in, and shut the cell bars behind him—then Raven turned and shooed the soldier away. Lissa caught the younger soldier giving them an apologetic sort of look as he walked away, but it wasn't like he had a choice. Not when a Lieutenant General told him to do something.

Raven folded his arms behind his back and looked down at them. "I am General Raven, from Central," he introduced, unaware they already knew. "I've heard a great deal about you from his Excellency."

The Führer… So he knew all about the hostages and their promise not to reveal anything.

"Hello," Ed greeted tersely.

"It appears you've been good little children and kept your mouths shut," Raven observed, eyeing them.

Ed looked down at his bound hands, a muscle twitching in his jaw. "That was the agreement."

Raven lifted an eyebrow. "You don't seem happy."

Lissa winced when Ed rolled his eyes and crossed his legs underneath him, sneering, "Oh, no, I'm absolutely _thrilled_. Who wouldn't love to have their friends taken hostage?" Though she agreed with him, Lissa leaned in and brushed her shoulder against his, warning him off it. They couldn't piss General Raven off, after all.

Attempting to cover for his brother, Al looked up at Raven and asked, "Um… Do you think you could release us from this cell soon?" He shifted where he sat. "The deal was, if we didn't mess with you, then you would let us continue our journey."

Raven smiled down at him, raising his hands in dismissal. "There's no need to worry. I'll let you out of here soon."

"That tunnel…" Ed peered sideways at Raven, through his bangs. "Is it part of whatever you're planning, too? If they find out…"

But Raven just flicked his hands once more, still dismissive, still treating them like little children. It was becoming _really_ difficult not to kick him right in his stupid teeth. "Again, you don't need to worry. I've already spoken with the General. She's going to put the homunculus back underground, and seal up the tunnel's opening."

"She's—going to seal it up?" Lissa breathed, her mouth falling open.

Raven's gaze turned just a touch severe. "General Armstrong's on our side now," he told her lowly.

Lissa gritted her teeth and looked away. He'd bought it… But that didn't make her like him. She felt much more inclined to kick his teeth in or break his nose than she did to smile and kowtow to him—Raven was sleazy, she could feel it even without the Dragon's Pulse.

"Well," she began slowly, trying to pick her words carefully, "we want to keep our friends safe. We'll continue keeping our mouths shut, sir."

"Excellent." Raven clapped his hands together brightly. "Then I'll go see about the construction. In the meantime, just sit tight, you three." He called the guard back and left then, leaving the three alone in the cellblock. Again. Lovely.

Lissa twisted her fingers midair idly, playing with a few air currents as she thought. Was there some way for her to tell the boys her suspicions about Kimblee having a Philosopher's Stone? She couldn't risk just…saying it outright, voices carried in here and it was just too much of a risk to reveal her hand that way. But it was important for them to know regardless, because it really changed the whole damn game… _How can I tell them safely? Without any real privacy…_

At least she had time, she figured. It would probably take a couple days to fill in the hole in the floor, doing it properly—so twenty-four hours if they rushed, but likely more like forty-eight or seventy-two. That would have to be enough time to figure it out. If not… The boys could be caught totally off-guard, and Lissa couldn't let that happen.

 _I'll say thirty-six for safety. Okay. Let the games begin._

* * *

(Pardon the accent on Rivière... It's not strictly canon but I have some French sensibilities that refuse to stay silent.)


	38. Cards on the Table

Oh my goodness. I could CRY. I was so stunned to see that I still had readers after my unexpected hiatus. I mean...there's still interest? I'm so floored and honored. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who came out for the last two chapters - and a HUGE extra thank you to the people who reached out about my health issues. I am hoping it's nothing, I am, but I was given the gamut from completely terrifying to something I just need (basic, but lifetime) meds for, to literally nothing at all...so I have no idea. But seeing all this has made me feel so much better about absolutely everything. What's more, my arm played nice and I was able to get this chapter all shiny and polished for you all! So without further ado, we continue: with one of my favourite sequences to write thus far appearing in this chapter too.

* * *

' _It's going to be difficult… We don't have much time before-'_

' _I know that, don't you think I know that? The last report said two days. But if we wait any longer…'_

' _We'll face the same complications. You're right.'_

' _The last test we ran was positive, it seems to be heading in the right direction. But it's still not finished. We'll be cutting it close—I need about thirty-six more hours before I can-'_

' _Shit. She's waking up.'_

' _Dammit, this gets harder every time… Up the dosage. We can't risk anything happening before we…'_

—

Lissa jolted upright with a gasp, covered in cold sweat and shivering all over. She'd woken up so violently that it even awakened Ed, who sat up sleepily and peered at her in the semidarkness. "Liss? Hey, what's going on?" he breathed. His hands found hers and grabbed on, much as he could with that wood paneling around his wrists, frowning at her worriedly.

"You were talking in you sleep," Al murmured behind her. "I…think you said something in…"

He trailed off—but she knew the end of that sentence anyway. _In Xingese. I said something else in Xingese._

"Just…" Lissa's voice cracked and she cleared her throat. "Just a nightmare, that's all. I'm fine."

"You're not fine," Ed argued back.

She closed her eyes a moment, focusing on her alchemical senses, on what she could feel tangibly—the wind whistling through Al's hollow body, the chill seeping in from down the hall, the soft breaths rushing past Ed's lips… Tangible. Real. Nothing like that dream. "I…don't even know why it scared me," she admitted softly, shrugging. "It was just…talking. It didn't make any sense, besides. Something about…a test being positive, and…needing time before… _something_. I don't know."

Al's armor clanked as he got up, moving across the cell so he could look at her—and something tumbled to place inside her mind.

"Do that again," she whispered, whipping her head around to look at him.

He stared at her. "Uh… Do what again, Lissa?"

"Just—just walk, pace for a second." She sat up straight, her nightmare melting away in the face of this— _obvious_ answer. "Please, Al. Trust me. The noise helps."

Though he seemed a bit wary, Alphonse did it anyway, consenting to pace up and down the cell just like she'd asked. Every step made his armor clank and jangle, and the metal of his boots thudded pretty loudly on the floor, creating a sort of…base noise level that would cover most sounds coming from their cell. And with the commotion from her nightmare… It wasn't odd that she might want a little background noise. The perfect cover.

"What's going on, Liss?" Ed asked her quietly, still holding her hands.

Lissa met his golden-eyed gaze. "Al, if you can hear me…just nod, don't acknowledge it out loud," she murmured. Al nodded, just once, and Lissa took a deep breath. "Listen to me. Both of you. This is important and we can't waste time with lots of questions. Just…trust me." She tightened her fingers around Ed's. "I think Kimblee has a Philosopher's Stone. I know what they feel like, and I sensed one on him yesterday."

Ed sucked in a sharp breath. "Shit."

"I don't know what it means, and I have no idea _why_ he has one… But we need to be careful. He's dangerous without a stone, but _with_ one…"

"Dammit, this is bad…" Ed twisted his mouth up as he considered all the implications. "That must mean he's definitely working with the homunculi, if he's got a complete Philosopher's Stone. So they got him out of prison. But why? What would they want with him?"

Al shook his head faintly, though he didn't pause in his pacing. "Nothing good."

"Right now, we have to assume he's our biggest threat," Lissa asserted. "Raven proved he's a pushover. But Kimblee…"

"Everything I know about Kimblee tells me he's a fucking terror," Ed muttered, scowling. "He did awful things in Ishval. The Colonel was regarded as a hero, but Kimblee… He ended up in prison. That tells us enough."

"Alex used him as a cautionary tale, for why powerful alchemists need to keep their feet on the ground," she added quietly. Lissa had never heard Alex talk about anyone the way he spoke about Kimblee. "He said Kimblee killed _hundreds_ of Ishvalans. He did it so quickly and ruthlessly that he was able to take on other commands and help out other state alchemists, just because he handled whatever tasks he was given that fast."

Ed let out a harsh breath. "Dammit. I don't like this at all. And if he's got a Philosopher's Stone, that means he's even _more_ dangerous now."

"We have to get out of here," Al murmured. "Soon."

Lissa didn't think she'd ever agreed with anything more.

—

It was nearly a week later, a day the three were thankfully already awake and talking softly amongst themselves, when Neil sauntered into the cellblock, seeming in pretty good spirits. "Hey, good morning," he greeted with a wave.

"You seem chipper," Ed observed, a bit irritably. A week without any sign of change would do that to a person.

Neil grinned at him. "I come bearing news, kids."

"News?" Lissa perked up, sitting up from where she'd been slumped against Ed's shoulder. "What kind of news? If you say _bad_ , I swear…"

He waved her off. "Nah, it's the good kind. I was ordered to come tell you that General Raven is uh, well…" Neil rubbed a hand across the back of his head. "He's dead."

"Dead?" Al repeated, stunned enough to look up from the newspaper he'd been reading.

Neil nodded. "You got it. General Armstrong killed him herself."

"She _killed_ him?!" Ed's jaw dropped.

"General Raven?!" Al nearly dropped his newspaper. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. And that was all I was ordered to tell you." Neil grinned and stuffed his hands in his pockets, completely at ease delivering such a damned bombshell. "So… Seeya." He turned then and headed right back off down the hall without another word.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Ed shouted, leaping up and rushing to the bars. "When're you guys gonna let us out of this damn place?!"

Neil shrugged as he walked out the door. "Who knows? Take it up with the General."

"Dammit!" Ed growled, gripping onto the bars and glowering down the hall, his whole body gone rigid with fury.

Al sighed at him. "Getting angry won't do any good, Ed. We should just rest for now."

"Al's right," Lissa admitted reluctantly. "It's not like we have a choice, anyway. We're stuck now until General Armstrong lets us out."

Ed groaned and slumped over, still holding onto the bars loosely. "Ugh, I can't just sit around while all this is going on," he complained, shaking his head. "I need to do _something_!"

As if his prayers had been answered, the door at the end of the hall creaked open again, and somebody walked down towards their cell. Lissa cringed back when she saw Kimblee approaching, the very last damned person she'd wanted to see. Honestly, boredom and solitude might've been better. _Anything_ was better than the Crimson Alchemist.

"Hi," Kimblee greeted, tipping his hat. "Afternoon, kids. I was hoping that I might have a word with the Fullmetal and Starlight Alchemists?"

Lissa bristled despite herself. The hell did Kimblee want with them?

Ed glanced at her over his shoulder, his expression telling her that he wasn't exactly thrilled with the situation either. She hoped he regretted complaining so much.

"Oh, don't tell me that you have some reason to dislike me, too," Kimblee sighed, approaching them. It seemed as though he was putting on some big farce, as far as Lissa could tell. Playing at courtesy. But why? "You should be grateful. After all, I brought a visitor with me to see you."

"A visitor?" Ed repeated, narrowing his eyes.

Footsteps clicked on the floor—and Lissa recoiled in complete horror as Winry popped around Kimblee and beamed at them happily.

"Winry?!" Ed cried, rearing back from her.

"Why did you come here?!" Al demanded, just as panic-stricken.

Winry glared at them. "Why?! Why do you _think_?! You have to adjust your automail for the north, don't you?" she demanded, gesturing angrily at Ed. "And just what are you doing in that cell? Did you get into some kind of trouble again?"

Ed matched her furious look. "We didn't ask you to come here!" he snapped.

"What's with you?" Hurt crept into Winry's face, and she took a step back from the cell. "I was _worried_ about you, idiot! Someone from the military contacted me, so I came-"

"Wait, the military contacted you?" Lissa interjected, leaping to her feet beside Ed.

Winry frowned at her. "I—yes…"

Kimblee grinned and rested his hands on Winry's shoulders. Lissa wanted to slam him into the wall for it. "Don't be so hard on her, you three… The Führer was concerned about you. He wanted to make sure you were taken care of."

 _Taken care of._ He was dangling poor Winry in front of them as a hostage, a clear threat, and she didn't even have a clue!

"Now, we should see to that automail, shouldn't we?" Kimblee suggested. "Fullmetal, Starlight, you can both come along. For the time being, Alphonse, I'm afraid you'll need to remain here. Is that all right?"

Al stiffened, but nodded regardless. "Of course."

Kimblee had the guards outside remove Ed and Lissa's restraints, while leaving Al's in place, and then quite happily led the way out of the cellblock and towards the medical room, where the automail workshop was located too. Lissa snagged Winry's arm on the way and kept the other girl close, letting Ed walk between them and Kimblee—a united force to protect Winry, she knew. They'd exchanged one split-second pointed glance on their way out of the cell, and that was all it took for Ed and Lissa to reach an understanding. Winry was here as a hostage…and it was their job to protect her.

With Lissa hovering anxiously, Winry set up in the medical room and had Edward lie out on a cot in front of her, stripped down to his boxers, much too vulnerable for the situation with his automail splayed out like that… But Lissa was glad she was there, at least.

 _It's odd for Kimblee to split us up this way,_ she mused, as Winry began setting her tools out, along with what seemed to be an entire new arm and leg. _Why not leave me in with Al? Wrath knew all about me and Ed, he shoved that in our faces… There's no reason Kimblee wouldn't know. We're partners, sure, but that means fuck all when it comes to keeping control of us. Which means Kimblee needs me here for another reason. Shit. I have no idea what he'd want with me._

"You should've told me you were heading to the north," Winry chastised, as she worked on Ed's arm. She'd semi-attached the new one, and was making some adjustments to it before she connected the nerves, as far as Lissa could tell.

Ed looked away from her, a bit ashamed. "I didn't have a chance… We were in a hurry, okay?"

Winry rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and when are you guys ever _not_ in a hurry," she muttered, clearly offended by the whole thing.

"I didn't know it'd be an issue," Lissa told her, grimacing. "I would've called you if I knew."

The blonde smiled up at her. "Well, at least you know for the future now, right?" she suggested, pretty gamely considering everything. "Anyway, what did you guys do to get locked up like that?"

"It's only a misunderstanding," Kimblee cut in smoothly, from where he'd posted up near the door—with two brand-new guards as well. Lissa was afraid to tune into the Dragon's Pulse here, afraid if she sensed the Philosopher's Stone too strongly it might overwhelm her and give her secret away… But she was _wickedly_ curious about these newcomers. "Just a lack of communication," he continued, smiling benignly at Winry. "I'll have them released in no time at all."

Winry smiled right back at him, totally unaware. "Thanks a lot, Mr. Kimblee. These three are lucky to have you watching out for them," she added, with a sharp side-eye at Ed.

"It's nothing," Kimblee demurred.

Lissa glanced sideways at Ed, subtle as she could, and he tugged lightly on Winry's wrench to bring her in closer. "Win, listen to me," Lissa murmured, tilting in like she was examining Ed's automail. "You need to be careful with him."

Ed nodded slightly. "I wouldn't trust Kimblee if I were you," he agreed.

"What?" Winry gave them a baffled look. "Why not? He seems nice. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Do you have any idea what that psychopath did in Ishval?" Ed began in a hiss—but he winced and cut himself off, maybe afraid to scare her too much or questioning his own knowledge, Lissa didn't know.

She reached out and touched his shoulder lightly, the movement drawing Winry's eyes to her. "Just be careful, okay?" Lissa cautioned softly. "Everything's kind of…different up here in the north. That's all. We just wanna look out for you, Win." _There. Hopefully that's enough to make her wary, without terrifying her… Winry doesn't need to be freaking out up here. She'll go back to Rush Valley soon and won't have to worry about Kimblee anymore._

Softening a bit, Winry nodded and returned to her work, grabbing up a wrench this time and bringing it to Ed's shoulder. "Okay. I'll keep it in mind, Lissa." She twisted the wrench, a single, sharp motion—and Ed cried out in a sudden burst of pain.

"What the hell, Winry?" he whined, grabbing at his automail in protest. "I told you to warn me before you connect the nerves! All right?!"

She just sniffed rather imperiously. "Yeah, yeah… Now let's do your leg. You big baby." Winry made a little shooing motion with her finger, and Ed reluctantly curled his automail arm in, letting it drape over his exposed chest while Winry shifted down to work on his leg. Lissa remained by his side, her fingers tracing the muscles of his shoulder just faintly, reminding him she was there. As Winry set about removing his leg, her face set with absolute concentration, Lissa dared to inch a bit closer and brush her fingers through his bangs.

Ed quirked a faint smile, that crooked one that made her stomach do somersaults, and tilted into her touch. And for a moment, just that one, singular moment, nothing else mattered—there was nobody but Ed, not to Lissa, nothing but their own little space together. She adored this, the trust between them, the easy way they could just…communicate with the slightest touches, those quick glances… She loved it, honestly she did, she loved…

 _Him._

Lissa shut her eyes as the feeling washed over her. _Am I in love with Edward? Is that really…what this is?_ She focused on him, just for a moment, on that warm, familiar feeling of amber, the shimmer of sunlight through crystalline water, a clear night sky…

 _I…I love him,_ she realized, her heart stuttering in her chest. _And I never even noticed._

A hand rested on her knee, and Lissa flicked her eyes open to see Ed staring at her, a little worry coloring his gaze, like he'd sensed something was wrong. She just tugged at his little antenna and grinned, shrugging it off. It was one thing to be with him—to call Ed her boyfriend and take that risk. They hadn't been able to stay apart. But to admit _that_ … To say she loved him… No. Not until they'd finished with this entire mess, until the homunculi and Father were gone. It would be an unfair weight on him, a distraction—and give the homunculi even more reason to hold their relationship over them.

 _So for now…we'll stay just how we are,_ she agreed to herself, a silent promise. _And later… I'll pour my whole damned heart out for you later, Ed._

Winry finished up soon enough with his leg, and Ed hopped off the cot immediately, swishing his arm around and stomping his feet to test it. "It's so light," he mused, curling and uncurling his fingers. "It's not gonna be any weaker than my last set, will it?"

"Not really," Winry told him, as she put her tools away. "It's slightly weaker, but I doubt you'll notice. I can add a shin-guard if you're worried, though. It is pretty heavily reinforced, so you'll be fine either way."

Ed pulled on his clothes as Lissa passed them to him, tugging his trousers into place and his undershirt over his head just before Buccaneer stepped out of the automail workshop. Seriously, Lissa was beginning to be utterly terrified of his resilience. Had he really gone through _two_ changes in the handful of days they'd been at Briggs?

"All right, what are you two doin' out of your cell?" Buccaneer asked, glaring down at Ed and Lissa like he still thought they were spies.

Good acting, really.

"I don't know. Maybe some people respect the fact that we're state alchemists," Ed shot back irritably.

Buccaneer just scoffed that away. "Ah. Finally upgrading for the cold, huh?" he observed, jerking his chin towards Ed's new automail arm.

Ed nodded once, reluctantly. "Are you upgrading too?"

Winry gasped behind them as Buccaneer laughed and brandished his claw-tipped arm, an almost maniacal grin spreading over his face. "There's nothin' left for me to upgrade to!"

Lissa smirked and stepped aside as Winry let out an excited shriek, and raced over to examine Buccaneer's arm. "It's the M19 Mad Bear lightweight combat model!" Winry stared at his arm as the Captain held it out obligingly. "Woah! What kind of reinforcement is that on the claws? They're not _diamond_ -tipped, are they?!"

Buccaneer looked at her in surprise. "Yeah. She's fully modified. It's a specially-crafted model," he told her.

Winry let out another scream of excitement. "Edward!" She rounded on him and pointed eagerly at Buccaneer's automail. "Do you want me to upgrade you to one of these?"

Ed grimaced and looked away. "Not my style," he grumbled.

Lissa just laughed and tugged him into her side, squeezing his shoulder. "What, you don't think you could rock a set of claws, Ed?"

He just turned his nose up at her.

"Who's the girl?" Buccaneer asked them, smirking. "She's way too cute to be hanging around a couple of troublemakers like you two."

Ed rolled his eyes. "She's my mechanic."

Buccaneer glared between them for a moment—then reared back his clawed automail arm to swipe it across Ed. Lissa tightened her grip on Ed and parted the air behind them, yanking him just out of reach at the very last second, causing Buccaneer to claw through empty air.

"What'd you do that for?!" Ed demanded angrily.

The Captain turned and stalked out of the room. "Because life isn't fair, kid!"

Winry giggled and clasped her hands together, unbothered by the whole thing. "Real life northern automail!" she sighed dreamily. "That's the first I've ever seen!"

Neil, who had trailed Buccaneer out like he just wanted to see the show, gave her a bright smile. "Oh, yeah?" He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "You wanna come check out my workshop then?"

"Please, please, I'd love to!" she agreed eagerly, nodding.

Ed furrowed his brow. "Hey, Winry…"

"Huh?" She turned back to face him. "What's wrong?"

He winced, probably remembering that Kimblee and a couple of his guards were still in the room. "Uh, nothing… Just… Try to keep on your toes. And don't go off exploring, not on your own." Ed sighed wearily. "It's not safe here. So be careful, all right?"

"Okay," Winry agreed hesitantly. "I will be."

"It's a rabbit warren," Lissa offered, trying to smile as she covered Ed's warning. "You'll be fine with Neil, though."

Winry returned the smile, just a bit. "Thanks, Lissa." Then she bounded off after Neil, trailing him into his workshop with a veritable flood of questions already rolling off her tongue. She'd probably be occupied in there for hours, if Neil let her stay that long.

Kimblee crossed to Ed and Lissa, smiling a bit eerily after Winry. "I see she's got her parents' enthusiasm," he observed. "It's a good trait to have." He stepped between them and the workshop, rather pointedly. "Well then. Your little upgrade's all taken care of and out of the way. So why don't we find a place to sit down, hm? I'm eager to discuss our business."

So this was it… The heart of why Kimblee had come here, why he'd brought Winry into the equation.

"Sure," Lissa agreed softly. "Down to business, then."

Ed practically shoved the rest of his clothes back on, including a brand new shin-guard that strapped to the outside of his trousers, his mood dropping further and further as the situation kept evolving—first, Kimblee brought Ed and Lissa into a smaller room, a sort of office enclosed by a door with a big glass panel at the top. That would've been all right, leaving witnesses for whatever might happen… But then the Crimson Alchemist had his guards watch _Winry_ in the next room, plying her with tea and suggesting she could wait on Ed and Lissa there. It kept her presence in their faces, a reminder of the instant price of failing to comply.

"So," Kimblee began as he settled down across the table from them, resting his hands atop the wooden surface and smiling. "Let's get right to it, shall we? It's very simple. I have a job for you two."

"You've got a job for us?" Ed repeated, suspicious, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kimblee inclined his head. "That's correct. You are state alchemists, after all. And it's a few jobs, actually. Three. All from the Führer." He flicked up one finger, displaying the tattoo inked on his palm in the process. "First off, he wants you to hunt down Scar. You two just find him, I'll take care of the rest." Meaning deal the final blow, Lissa assumed, glaring as Kimblee lifted his second finger. "Secondly, he wants you to locate Dr. Marcoh, who has very likely fled with Scar."

"Wait, he's where?" Lissa asked, leaning forward over the table. This was news to them, they hadn't heard anything of Dr. Marcoh since he went missing.

Ed was wondering the same thing. "Why's Dr. Marcoh with Scar?"

Kimblee eyed them both. "The only thing you need to worry about is finding them," he told them firmly. Then he flicked up his third finger, pushing onward over any questions they might have. "And last but not least, he wants you to carve a crest of blood here."

 _A what?_

"A crest of blood?" Ed frowned at him. "What do you mean by that?"

Kimblee's gaze turned harsher, and something leaden lodged in Lissa's abdomen. "Just like what I did in Ishval. It's very simple. We kill everyone and soak the land with their blood."

Lissa recoiled into the back of her chair. "No!"

Ed growled and shot to his feet, ramming his palm into the tabletop, flying headfirst into rage. "We would _never_ take part in-"

But he cut himself off as Kimblee pressed a finger to his own lips, and cast a sly gaze towards the door.

 _Winry. Oh, no, he's going to hold Winry over us to make us do this!_

Trembling with anger now, Ed dropped back into his chair, his arms tight over his own chest as he glared sideways. Lissa could feel his breath disturbing the air, harsh and hot with fury. For her part, she was just… _stunned_. Of anything she'd thought Kimblee might want…she'd never considered… _this_.

"Did you really join the military without being prepared to kill someone?" Kimblee asked of Ed, sounding almost amused.

Ed glowered at him. "I was determined _not_ to kill."

Kimblee gave him an exasperated look, unaffected by the declaration. Clearly he wasn't moved too much by the idea of mercy. "Well, how original of you. I suppose you could take just as much from that decision."

"Listen, Kimblee, do you have any idea what they're doing?" Ed demanded. "What you're helping them to achieve? They're gonna-"

"I'm curious to see how the world will change," Kimblee interrupted coolly.

Lissa let out a sharp breath. "What?"

"Both sides clashing… Will against will… Life versus life… Humans or the homunculi… Which one will triumph? Which side does the world prefer?" Kimblee's voice was icy, coated with a sort of detached curiosity, like he truly didn't _care_ what the outcome was—he just wanted a good seat to watch the horrors. "The homunculi like to see themselves as the next step in the evolution of humanity. But that's for history to decide. I just plan on helping it make up its mind."

She swallowed back a wave of nausea. "That's—that's _sick_ , what you're doing," she breathed.

"Have you forgotten that you're a human?" Ed asked of him, his anger still winning out over his own revulsion. "How can you take their side?"

Kimblee raised his arms to display the tattoos on his palms for them. "Because they've given me complete freedom to use my alchemy however I want."

Ed's jaw clenched tight. "You're insane, Kimblee."

"My standards do tend to differ from society's," he allowed, smirking. "However, if I survive this battle then the world will have chosen my sanity over yours. I stake my being, the very core of my own existence. This is what I'm willing to bet on the outcome of this battle."

"You…" Ed sighed roughly. "You don't make any sense, Kimblee."

"Nothing you're saying sounds even remotely sane," Lissa told him sharply, her own ire rising. This man…was playing around like this was a _game_ , like watching them fight for their lives was an interesting sport. It was sickening.

Kimblee lifted his eyebrows. "That's surprising. I had always kind of assumed that self-centeredness was a universal trait of all alchemists." He reached inside his coat, digging his fingers into some inner pocket, and withdrew his hand to rest it atop the table. "Well then," he murmured, and Lissa's senses rushed into overdrive, her skin crawling with that horrific slimy feeling from before. "Let's see if I can find something that you _do_ selfishly crave. Something you and your brother want more than anything."

 _No… Dammit, no, anything but this…_

"And if you do what we ask… I'll give it to you." And with that, Kimblee lifted his hand. On the table, gleaming a vibrant red in the overhead lighting, was a small, blood-tainted Philosopher's Stone. Lissa could barely keep her hands from trembling. This stone…felt so, _so_ much stronger than the one in Liore… The false priest's… It was _real_. She could sense it in the thick sludge weighing down her shoulders, suppressing everything but the awful, soul-sick feeling of that stone.

A complete Philosopher's Stone. Edward and Alphonse's, for a price.

Lissa shoved her senses down with a mighty heave, smothering the Dragon's Pulse with the most monumental effort. She looked over at Ed, trying to gauge him, trying to read what was going on in his mind—but it dawned on her, with a horrid certainty, that it didn't matter.

She had another bargaining chip in this game.

"I need to consult…with Al and Winry," Ed began slowly, his hands quivering faintly in his lap.

Kimblee rested his head in a hand. "Why tell Miss Winry?"

"She has no idea she's involved." Ed breathed out heavily. "Despite what you're asking of us, I refuse to hide the truth from her."

"All right then. But you're not telling her without me there," Kimblee asserted. "I don't want you telling her too much." He started to rise from the table—but paused as Lissa held up a hand, meeting his gaze for perhaps the first time. "Is something the matter, Starlight?" he asked her curiously.

Lissa didn't look away from him. She couldn't. "I need to talk to you privately, Kimblee."

Ed jerked around to look at her. "Wait, Liss—what are you-"

"It's fine, Ed." She managed to tear her gaze away from Kimblee long enough to force a smile her boyfriend's way. "Honestly. I just…need to clear something up." Lissa reached out and took his hands in hers, wishing she could hide the way hers were shaking uncontrollably. "Please… Trust me, okay? It won't take long."

Kimblee looked genuinely intrigued. Lissa had been betting on that, on him biting long before Ed could get his feet under him. "Very well, then." He made a gesture at one of his soldiers outside the door, and the man immediately approached Winry. "I'll have Miss Winry escorted back to the cell first, and you can wait outside, Fullmetal. Though I wouldn't try anything, if I were you." He took the Philosopher's Stone back and tucked it into his pocket, rather pointedly.

Ed slowly stood up from the table, his eyes fixated on Lissa, mouth slightly agape in shock. "Liss… Whatever you're doing… You can't…"

She stood up for a moment and embraced him, tightly—then pressed a quick kiss to his lips, just to silence him. "You gotta trust me, Ed," she told him softly. "I know what I'm doing, all right? Just wait outside. Like I said, this won't take me long."

He gave her a disconsolate look, but stepped outside anyway, sitting down in the chair Winry had just vacated.

"Cute," Kimblee observed. "You and Fullmetal. Though, you know, it's just another weakness for them to exploit. You would've done better keeping it to yourself."

"I don't need your relationship advice," Lissa shot back. She sat down at the table and faced him, summoning up all her courage for what she had to do next. "Can I ask you… How much bargaining power did the homunculi give you? Was it just the stone and the three tasks, or did they hand you down more power than that?"

He eyed her curiously. "I have enough power to ensure the tasks are completed. That's all you need to know. Why?"

Lissa squared her shoulders. "And you know about the whole—thing with the human sacrifices? How Ed and Al are considered proper sacrifices, while I'm just some sort of potential candidate?" That was important to know. She had to be fully aware of what he had in his mind.

"Mh, yes, I'm aware of all that." His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Get to the point, Starlight."

She nodded, just once. "I want to make a deal. You'll get everything you want, and so will the homunculi… But I want you to leave Ed out of carving the crest of blood." Lissa twisted her fingers together atop the table, watching flickers of alchemical energy dance over her knuckles. "I can do it myself. He might've resolved himself not to kill, but I didn't. I never had a choice here, so I grew up knowing what I'd have to do."

Kimblee scoffed at her, more amused than anything else. "You think you have a way to protect your little boyfriend? Seems like at least one of you has a true alchemist's arrogance."

"It's not arrogance," Lissa shot back, irritated. "I have a trade. Equivalent Exchange. Ed and I will handle the first two tasks together—finding Scar and Dr. Marcoh. But you leave carving the crest of blood to me. I'm strong enough to do it on my own, even if you don't feel like helping. At the end, Ed and Al still get their Philosopher's Stone. And…" She crossed her arms over her chest. "In return, I'll take whatever step the homunculi need from me to turn myself into a full sacrifice."

His eyebrows shot up. Lissa had caught him off guard, she could see that. He hadn't actually expected her to have anything to offer, beyond a girl's desperation to protect the boy she cared about. "Now, this is interesting," he told her, leaning in over the table. "Do you know what you'd be required to do?"

"No. And I don't care. Ed and Al did it, clearly, so I'll handle whatever it is." This was why she'd sent Ed from the room—he would never, _ever_ let her so much as _consider_ this option. "That's one less person for the homunculi to find. All their tasks get completed, the boys get their stone, and one more sacrifice is on the table." Lissa sat back in her chair, trying to get her breathing under control. The truth was…she was terrified of whatever she might have to do. But in the end… She could save that part of Edward, the piece of his soul she _knew_ would shatter if he were forced to become a human weapon.

 _And I still haven't reached the limit of what I'd do for that boy. For both of them. But if Ed can get the stone, then we can take it away from Kimblee… And that would make it all worth it…_

At least, she could tell herself that until it was true.

Kimblee steepled his fingers and regarded her. "I must say, you've surprised me. I expected you to beg for your boyfriend's soul—but not _this_. You're much more cunning than anyone would give you credit for, Lissa Caito." He shook his head. "That said… The answer is no."

Lissa bit back a sharp curse.

"Turning you into a sacrifice simply isn't worth the risk of our plans not being completed. The crest of blood must be done in a certain manner, and it's more important to task you and Fullmetal to that than it is to make you a full sacrifice." Kimblee shrugged. "It was a fair try, though, I'll give you credit where it's due. However…" He smirked at her, and Lissa's skin crawled. "I will remember your offer, for the future. It's good to know what you're willing to do."

She glared down at the tabletop, energy twisting around her hands as she raged. Lissa hadn't thought he'd turn her down—she'd been fully prepared to take that step, to do what she had to in order to protect Ed. But now… Now she was just _angry_ at the homunculi, at Father, at Kimblee, for putting Ed through this. For making him take on that role.

"Come along then, Starlight," Kimblee half-ordered, rising from the table. "I want my answers soon. I need to report back."

Lissa rose and let him show her out of the room, still furious—but the moment she saw Ed, tense and anxious, all that anger melted away to shame. He…wouldn't like what she'd done, what she'd offered… She knew that…

"Liss, you okay?" he asked her softly as she approached, rising from the table and taking her hands.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm fine." Lissa shot a glance towards Kimblee. "Nothing changed, anyway. I had to try." When he went to ask what she'd done, Lissa shook her head quickly and cut him off. "Not here, Ed. Okay? We have other things to worry about right now besides my stupid failed plan."

Ed furrowed his brow, and Lissa winced, knowing she'd tipped him off too much. Yet to her surprise he took her hand anyway as Kimblee led them from the room, his guards trailing without so much as a gesture. So… He hadn't decided to hate her just yet. But Lissa wondered if that would last once he learned exactly what she'd done. But she'd had to _try_ , there was no other way… She had to try and protect him if she could.

Kimblee took them back to the cellblock and let the two in, standing across the hall and leaning there with his arms folded, watching. He was serious about making sure Ed and Lissa didn't reveal too much, then.

Lissa felt Ed's hand brush hers—then a quick, sharp pressure from his forefinger against one of her tattoos. She knew the one. It was the circle he'd helped her design, the one she'd been so anxious about at first… That circle allowed her to reshape the air around something else as a way to guide the transmutation, a sort of secondary alchemy they'd developed together. One alchemist just put their energy towards forcing the solid object out of its old shape, while Lissa would focus on the actual physical shape and direction the materials needed to take. The idea was to reshape and guide something while another alchemist transmuted a solid object, both lending their energy and allowing for not quite a bypass of Equivalent Exchange, but the closest they could come without using a Philosopher's Stone.

 _That was…specific, for him to point that one out,_ Lissa mused, though she didn't look at him. _A method of attempting to bypass Equivalent Exchange with both our unique talents. Why, Ed? What are you thinking?_

Ed sighed deeply and jumped right into it. "Winry, you were only brought to Briggs as a hostage," he told the girl bluntly.

Winry, seated on the cot just in front of them, looked up at him in confusion. "A what? What does he mean, Al? Are you joking? Tell me he's joking, Lissa…"

Ed's mouth set in a grim line, and he cast his gaze downward, unable to look her in the eye any longer. "Listen… We've been ordered by the Führer to fulfil our duties as human weapons. In other words, they're ordering me and Lissa to help them commit mass murder."

"No! Why don't you just refuse?" Winry demanded, shooting to her feet—but then she recoiled, her face going very pale. "I see… That's why." She sank back down and pressed a hand to her face. "No… I'm sorry… They're using me to hold you down…"

Lissa reached out to her. "Winry…"

"I won't cry!" Winry breathed, though her voice was tight. "I won't. I'm just…upset at myself for being so naïve." She put her other hand to her face and sighed, a bit shakily. "I'm sorry. All you were trying to do is get your original bodies back again."

Ed's finger brushed that same spot on Lissa's hand, and she nudged her palm against the pressure, acknowledging. "About that," he murmured. "They actually offered me a Philosopher's Stone as payment."

Al gasped in shock. "A stone? But…"

Lissa inclined her head. "Kimblee has one with him."

"But—we _can't_ , brother!" Al insisted, looking to Ed with a rush of panic. "The ingredients for a stone are-"

"I know, Al!" Ed snapped. It was so, _so_ rare for Ed to be harsh with his little brother—Lissa didn't flinch, didn't allow herself to do anything but stare the younger boy down, willing him to understand what she'd pieced together. _This is why you kept tapping that tattoo, isn't it? You want to bypass this Equivalent Exchange. You don't want to take that Philosopher's Stone at all. We just need Kimblee to believe that you're desperate enough to take it._

And, though Ed didn't know it, this was all lining up with her own attempt to alter the deal. It served to underline just how badly they needed the stone, even with the ingredients. Lissa hadn't cared about the stone—she'd kept it as part of the deal if only to get it away from Kimblee. All she wanted was to get the boys' bodies back.

She just hoped Ed would understand that.

Al's body slumped, and he turned away sharply, refusing to look at them. "Go ahead and do what you want," he told them lowly.

Edward bowed his head. "I will."

Lissa nodded her agreement, conscious of Winry staring at her in shock. "Then let's go," she murmured. She and Ed left the cell together, joining Kimblee at the end of the hallway. Lissa hoped she didn't look too rattled.

"It's settled," Ed told the Crimson Alchemist. "We're in. All right?" He jammed his hands into his pockets and eyed Kimblee. "But finding Scar is the first thing that I wanna do."

Kimblee adjusted his hat on his head. "Oh, yeah? Why's that?"

Ed gritted his teeth. "Scar is the one who murdered Winry's parents," he explained tersely. "They deserve vengeance."

Down the hall, the cell door squeaked as Winry was allowed out as well, leaving Al alone.

"I see." Kimblee shrugged as they headed off down the hall with him, keeping pace. "Fine with me, if that's what you'd like."

"Also, I need Al with me. He doesn't have a body, so he's immune to Scar's bodily destruction," Ed continued on. Lissa bit back a grin—he was smart, getting Al involved in all this now. Not in the least because Al had really held his own against Scar last time… Yet also been the one to strike up a deal with the Ishvalan that saved Mei Chang's life.

"Well, that is helpful," Kimblee noted, oblivious to all the underlying reasons.

 _Good. Let him think this is all for real._

"And what about you, Starlight?" he asked rather curiously. "Now that your little deal fell through, are you content with going after Scar first?"

Lissa felt Ed tense beside her. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

He shrugged at her. "I just thought you might still be looking for a way to get Fullmetal out of carving the crest of blood, that's all. You seem the type."

She dug her fingernails into the palms of her gloves, both angry and horrorstruck all at once. _Kimblee, you complete asshole! Why the hell did you need to interfere with that?! It's none of your fucking business!_

"Get me out of…" Ed stared at her sharply. "Lissa, you _didn't_."

"I told you it didn't work," she muttered, tugging at her coat uncomfortably. "What, like I haven't jumped into danger for you before? I dunno how you're still surprised."

His jaw dropped. "But this—this is… _so_ different, dammit, what did you even offer?!"

Lissa wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the ground. There was no way out now, thanks to Kimblee's meddling. "I…offered to become a full sacrifice if they didn't make you help carve the crest of blood, okay? I didn't see a way out of it, and you and Alphonse _need_ that damn stone, so I just…"

"Dammit, why the hell would you do that?" he snarled, rounding on her in the stairwell. "You—you didn't even _ask_ me, Lissa! You sent me out of the room because you _knew_ what I'd say!"

She jammed her hands on her hips and glared at him. "What, do I need your permission to try and look after you now? We both know that you only joined the military for one reason—but I _grew up_ knowing what I'd have to do, Ed. I've known for eight years of my life what I'd have to do. I came to terms with it. So—so I won't apologize for trying to protect you!"

"All right, enough!" Kimblee groaned. He seized her shoulder and pulled her away from Ed, stumbling her down a few stairs and pushing her at one of his guards. "Jeez, call off the lovers' spat. You two can clear your heads on the way to Baschool." He pointed at the guard now a foot behind Lissa. "Keep them separate until we get there, got it? Split cars, the whole deal. I didn't sign on to handle a couple teenagers bickering like that."

Lissa shot a panicked look up at Ed—only to find him glowering down at her. "Wha—hey, don't touch me!" she snapped, shoving the guard's hand away from her shoulder as he tried to pull her further down the stairs. "Ed, wait, I-"

But Ed folded his arms over his chest. "This is just like Resembool, isn't it?" he told her harshly.

 _Just like…Resembool? But wait, that's not…_

Lissa caught sight of Ed winking at her, just before Kimblee's guard took her shoulder and forced her to walk forward.


End file.
